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A VISIT 

TO 

SHERWOOD FOREST: 



INCLUDING THE ABBEYS OF 



Jlmstuh, 3Rnffnrit nntt BJrihrrk; 

CLUMBER, ANNESLEY, 
THORESBY, AND HARD WICK HALLS; 

BOLSOVER CASTLE ; MANSFIELD, 

AND OTHER 

INTERESTING PLACES IN THE LOCALITY. 

V 

By J. CARTER. 



WITH A 

Crftual <£**as on fbt %ilt antr €imt* of Robin SJootr, 

tQQl 

NEW EDITION, ENLARGED. % MFQt 

f° LONDON: 
LONGMAN, GREEN, LONGMAN, AND ROBERTS; 
MANSFIELD : T. W. CLARKE. 




FEINTED BI T. W. CLARKE, MANSFIELD. 






INTEODUCTION. 



The Author cannot allow a new edition of his "Visit to 
Sherwood" to he published without expressing his gratifi- 
cation at the manner in which his efforts to guide the 
visitor through the mazes of dear Old Sherwood have been 
appreciated by his indulgen,t friends. 

The present edition has undergone a careful revision, 
and additional matter has been added, which, he trusts, 
will render his little work still more useful than the former 
edition. 

A sad and painful change has taken place at Newstead 
since this edition went to press. Colonel Wildman, 
— the friend and school-fellow of Byron, — the gallant soldier, 
— the upright magistrate, — the perfect gentleman, — is no 
more. He was a type of Nature's true nobility, and at 
his death, — which took place on the 20th of September, 
1859, — Society lost one of her best ornaments, and Masonry 



IV INTRODUCTION. 

one of her most distinguished and generous ^brethren, the 
Colonel having held the office of P. G. M. for thirty-five 
years* His remains were interred in the cemetery at 
Mansfield. 

The thanks of both Author and Publisher are due, and 
most gladly given to Mr. Murray, for his kind permission 
to use the valuable Critical Notes of Dr. Waagen.* 



March, 1860. 



~<fflh 



* Treasures of Art in Great Britain. By Dr. Waagen. Being an 
Account of the Chief Collections of Paintings, Sculpture, Manuscripts, 
Miniatures, &c, &c, in this country. Obtained from Personal Inspection 
during Visits to England. 3 Vols. 8vo. 

Galleries and Cabinets of Art in England. By Dr. Waagen. Being an 
Account of more than Forty Collections, visited in 1854-56, and never 
before described. With Index. 8vo. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOEEST. 



LETTEE I. 



My dear 



You do well to remind me that I have not yet 
supplied you with my promised description of the visit I 
recently made to that most ancient of all the towns on the 
confines of the forest of " merrie Shirewood," known hy 
the name of Mansfield, or as it was, centuries ago, more 
quaintly termed, " Manny sfeld in Shirewood in ye County of 
Nottingham/' 

My remembrances of this place and its neighbourhood are 
of the pleasantest kind; and you will not wonder, if you 
consider the character of the district to which I was intro- 
duced, teeming as it does with wild and picturesque scenery, 
mouldering ruins, stately baronial mansions, and noble rem- 
nants of the grandeur of bye-gone ages. 

I was not idle, my friend, for as I wandered over the 
classic locality of Sherwood's once mighty forest, and was 
led on from place to place, each invested with the charm of 
historic association or legendary interest, I jotted down such 
memoranda as would assist in my promised narrative. 

Would that I could infuse into my narrative some portion 
of the enthusiasm with which I pondered over the time- 
hallowed and glorious scenes around me, and felt in imagination 
carried back to the days of our first Richards, Henrys, and 
Edwards, almost fancying that I could hear the huntsman's 
exciting shout, or the boisterous mirth and jovial songs of 
those heroes of our childhood, " bold Robin Hood and his 
merrie men !" 



Z A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

Ah ! you may smile at these foolish fancies, but you know 
they are themes upon which I love to dwell ; for whatever this 
utilitarian age may say to the contrary, there is a charm 
about the character and exploits of that wonderful outlaw, 
and in the customs and habits of our ancestors when under 
Norman sway, the remembrance of which is well calculated 
to cause a thrill of delight in an English heart, and to recall 
vividly the romantic faith and impressions of our boyhood. 

Before taking you amid the more interesting scenes of the 
forest, I must enter upon a hasty sketch of the present state 
and early history of the town of Mansfield itself, which is 
now situate on the border, and was formerly in the very bosom 
of the forest of " Shirewood," and may be with justice termed 
the capital of that ancient royalty. 

Leland, in narrating his " visit to Sherwood/ 5 says : — 
" Soone after I entered within a mile or less into the very 
thick of the woody forest of Shirewood, where is great game 
of deer, and so I rode a five miles in the very woody ground 
of the forest, and so to a little pore street or thoroughfare at 
the end of this wood. More inland is Shirewood, which 
some render the Clear others the Famous Forest, anciently 
thick set with trees, whose entangled branches were so twisted 
together that they hardly left room for a single person to pass. 
At present it is much thinner, but still breeds an infinite 
number of deer and stags with lofty antlers, and has some 
towns, among which Mansfield claims the pre-eminence, a 
market town of good . resort, whose name some bring in to 
confirm the claim of the German family of Mansfield to 
antiquity, asserting that the first Earl of Mansfield whom 
they fetch from hence was one of King Arthur's Round 
Table." 

The town is, as you are aware, in the North division of 
Nottinghamshire, and one part of its extensive parish abuts 
upon the Scarsdale Hundred of North Derbyshire. The 
river Man, or Maun (from whence it really derives its name) 
flows along the southern and eastern sides of the town, which 
is so completely surrounded by a beautiful range of undulating 
hills, that, approach it as you will, it has an air of coziness 
and comfort, calculated to create a very favourable impression 
upon the mind of a stranger ; nor is this impression destroyed 
by entering the place, which, instead of being as some 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 6 

remember it, a dull, dirty, miserable hole, is now a well- 
lighted, well-paved, pleasing little town, with a market place 
and public buildings, calculated to throw those of more im- 
portant places sadly into the shade. Thanks to the public 
spirit of the inhabitants, and to the provisions of an Act 
of Parliament, passed, I think, in 1823, called the "Mansfield 
Improvement Act," this spacious and elegant market place 
is graced by its noble town hall, savings bank, and a host 
of newly-erected shops, where once stood a ponderous mass 
of such old dilapidated buildings as would have disgraced the 
meanest village. 

Mansfield was evidently a place of some importance prior 
even to the Norman Conquest, for it is stated to have been a 
favourite hunting seat of the Kings of Mercia. Be this as it 
may, it is quite certain that Edward the Confessor possessed a 
manor here "which paid Dane Geld or Tax for three Carucates* 
and six Bovates.f" " The Land being nine Plough Lands. J" 
And it is also certain that under the Conqueror there were 
some nice little pickings here ; to wit, " Two Carucates then 
in demesne, &c, one Mill, one Piscary, and a Wood two miles 
long and two miles broad." There were then two churches 
and two priests, " and the Towns of Schegby and Sutton were 
Hamlets of this great Manor, the Soke§ whereof extended into 
Warsop, Clune, Carberton, Clumber, Buteby, Turesby, Thorpe, 
Scoteby, Rounton, Odenstow, Grymeston, Echering, Raneby, 
Bodmescill, &c. It had likewise Soke in Wardbeck Wapen- 
take." 

In 1238 (23rd of King Henry the Third) the King granted 
to Henry de Hastings and his wife Ada, the manor of Mans- 
field with all which pertained to it. 

It is stated as a strange fatality connected with this noble 
and ancient family that no child ever saw its father ! the 
parent, in every instance, dying before the birth of the next 

*Carucate (from came a plough) a plough land, or as much land as may- 
be tilled in a year by one plough. 

fBovata Terrce. As much land as an ox can till, or about twenty-eight 
acres. 

%Plough land, (ancient law term,) a certain quantity of arable land, near 
a hundred acres. 

§Soke (Saxon socnea). The territory in which the chief lord exercised 
his liberty of keeping courts within his own territory of jurisdiction. 



4 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

heir ; and the last of the line, John Lord Hastings Earl of 
Pembroke, was accidentally killed when a very young man 
whilst learning to joust. 

In 1329, (3rd of Edward the third), Queen Isabella, the 
King's mother, whilst residing at Nottingham castle claimed 
to be Lady of the Manor of Mansfield with the whole liberty 
thereto belonging ; but this claim was opposed with partial 
success by Anthony Beck, the then Dean of Lincoln, who 
claimed that he had divers tenants there, and that he and all 
his predecessors used to have assize of bread and ale. 

In the 35th of Edward the third, say a.d. 1362, Richard 
de la Vache, Kt., is called Lord of Mansfield, and held 
the manor from the King during life. He had also rent of 
assize of freeholders £17 13s. 4d., and two water mills worth 
£8 yearly in the town, one in Mansfield Woodhouse, and 
another in Sutton, members of the manor of Mansfield. 

In the 11th of Henry the sixth, (1432), "The Jury find 
that Alianora, who had been wife of Sir Nicholas Dagworth, 
Knight, had and held, the day on which she died, the manors 
of Mansfield and Lyndeby, in Shirewood, for the term of her 
life, by grant of Henry, late King of England, Grandfather 
of the present King, the reversion belonging to the said King. 
And they say that the aforesaid Manor and Lordship of Mans- 
field extend themselves into the divers Towns and Hamlets 
following, to wit, — Mansfield, Mansfield Woodhouse, Sutton, 
Warsop, Scofton, Neweton, Budby, Hokenall, Clombre, Net- 
tleworth, Rodmerthwayt, Morhawe, Le Hill, Hotwayt, and 
Hayam de Fulwood." 

" And they say that at Mansfield there is not any Manor 
house built, but there is there a site, and that j833 rent is 
received as well by the hands of divers tenants of the afore- 
said Towns and Hamlets as for other rents of divers tenants 
belonging to the same Manor. And that there are within 
the precincts of the same Manor divers Woods, to wit, — 
Lyndhurst, and Dalworth, and the out woods thereof. And 
there are there three mills, and there is a Court there holden 
yearly, from three weeks to three weeks, and that the Leet 
or view of Frankpledge is holden there twice yearly, and 
there is a certain Fair there," &c. 

It appears that on the demise of the before-named Lady 
Alianora Dagworth, the King (Henry 6th) granted the manor 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. O 

to his brother Edmund, Earl of Richmond, and Jasper, Earl 
of Pembroke. 

This ancient and extensive copyhold manor is one of the 
nature called " Gavelkind ;" and from a presentment made in 
the first year of King Edward the First, it appears that the 
tenants, or, as they are now called, copyholders, hold their 
property subject to the following customs, viz. : — 

" The tenants of our Lord the King of Mansfield be free 
of blood, and lawfully may marry them after their wills, as 
well Men as Women. 

" Also that as soon as Children be born and christened, be 
they Males or Females, are of lawful age to have their in- 
heritance. 

"Also that none of the tenants of this manor, Males or 
Females, may give, sell, or in any wise alien his tenements that 
he holdeth of the King before they be fifteen years old full, 
that the gift and sale may be fast and stable for ever. 

" Also that every wife of this Manor ought to be endowed 
of half the Tenements of which her husband had been siezed 
as of fee at the time of their wedding or afterwards. 

"Also that if any tenant of this Manor purchase any tene- 
ments to him and to his wife and their heirs, and in full court 
take jointly estate thereof, though they have heirs between 
them or not, after the death of the husband, the wife the 
said Tenements all her life shall hold in peace, after cus- 
tom of the Manor ; and after the death of the said wife whoso 
she be, the aforesaid Tenements to the heirs of the aforesaid 
husband shall fully revert. 

" Also that all male children be heirs alike after the father 
and mother's decease by equal portions, and if males lack, all 
the Tenements shall be departible between the female 
children." 

I was much interested by a perusal of an ancient copy of 
the instructions for doing homage to the Lord, bearing date so 
far back as 1324 ; and as they are somewhat curious and 
convey a vivid picture of the vassalage which then pervaded 
the length and breadth of our land, you will, I am sure, excuse 
my troubling you with a copy of the humiliating nonsense ! 

" When a freeman shall do his homage to his Lord, he shall 
hold his hands together, and shall say this, ' I become your 
man for this day forth of life or limb, and of worldly worship 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

and faith to you shall bear for the tenements that I hold of 
you saving the faith that I owe unto our Lord the King.' 

"When a freeman shall &o fealty to his Lord he shall hold 
his right hand upon the book, and say this, c Hear ye, my 
Lord, that I shall to you be true and loyal, and faith to you 
shall bear of life and limb and of earthly honour, and truly 
to you shall do the service and customs that I owe to do for 
the tenements that I hold of you, and at the terms assigned. 
So help me God.' 

" When a bondman shall do his fealty to his Lord, he shall 
hold his right hand upon a book, and shall say thus, f This hear 
ye, my Lord, that I from this day forth shall be true and 
loyal and justifiable of my body and chattels. So help me 
God. 5 " 

But enough of these dry details ; suffice it to say, that the 
manor, after being tossed about by royal favour from one lord 
to another — (on one occasion given by Henry the eighth to 
Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, who had his residence at Worksop 
manor, for his great victory over the Scots at Flodden Field) 
— it came by descent into the hands of the present noble 
owner, His Grace the Duke of Portland. 

Several of the Norman kings used to frequent this place, 
in consequence, no doubt, of the facilities it afforded them for 
enjoying the sports of the chase, both wolves and deer being 
found in great plenty for centuries subsequent to the Norman 
Conquest. In consequence of these repeated royal visits many 
privileges were granted from time to time to the " men of 
Mansfield,' 5 bearing reference chiefly to grants of fairs, 
markets, and most important rights connected with the forest 
adjoining. King John built a palace near this town, of which 
more anon ; and it is a singular fact, that one Gamelbere, an 
eld Saxon knight, was allowed by William the Conqueror to 
retain two carucates of land at Cuckney, for the service of 
shoeing the King's palfry, "as oft as he should lie at Mans- 
field;" and according to an old inquisition, Sir Henry de Faul- 
conberge held the manor of Cuckney by the same tenure. * 

THE PARISH CHURCH 

of Mansfield is dedicated to St. Peter, or as some authorities 

surmise, to St. Peter and St. Paul. The figures upon the 

*See Letter on Welbeck Abbey. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 7 

ancient corporate seal (see page 10) would lead rather to 
the latter conclusion. It is uncertain when it was first erected 
— probably soon after the Norman Conquest ; but it is stated 
to have been nearly destroyed by fire so early as the year of 
grace 1304, and was shortly afterwards restored in a manner 
worthy of that period. It has, however, since undergone so 
many alterations and repairs that in the present structure it 
would puzzle you to detect one solitary specimen of the 
original ; the lower part of the tower, now covered with 
stucco, is undoubtedly the oldest, if we except a small but 
very interesting remnant of the Norman zig-zag ornament 
which is still to be seen near the vestry door, in the south 
chancel aisle. The spire is ill proportioned, being evidently 
stunted in its growth. Two hideous modern porches protrude 
on the south side, and with windows of every imaginable 
size, shape, and style — some with mullions, some without — 
you have a tout ensemble of ecclesiastical architecture now 
happily seldom to be met with. The interior has once been 
good, having some rather pretty and well-proportioned speci- 
mens of the lofty-pointed arch ; but, alas for the depraved 
taste of the last century, there is scarcely a column in the 
sacred edifice but has been rudely divested either of its well- 
moulded capital or some other of its fair proportions, in order 
to make room for a lot of galleries, or those still more un- 
sightly religious luxuries called pews ! It contains north and 
south aisles, with a spacious nave and chancel ; and in a gallery 
at the west end stands an elegant and tolerably well-toned 
organ, which was purchased by subscription in 1755. 

There were formerly ten chantries attached to this church, 
the lands whereof were given by Queen Mary, in fee to 
Christopher Granger, Clerk, the vicar, and William Wylde 
and John Chambers, the churchwardens of the parish, by 
the name of the Governors of the Lands and Possessions of 
the Parish Church of Mansfield (24th February, 4th and 5th 
Philip and Mary) to sustain one chaplain or priest. 

The living, a vicarage, is valued in the King's books at 
£7 7s. 6d. — present value (including the above named chap- 
laincy) about <g£700 a year, now and for many years past 
enjoyed by the Rev. Thomas Leeson Cursham, D.C.L. ; 
patron, the Bishop of Lincoln ; His Grace the Duke of 
Portland being lay impropriator and lessee of the great tithes. 



8 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

Prior to the Reformation the windows presented some fine 
specimens of stained glass, including the armorial bearings 
of the Pierreponts, D'Arceys, Farrars, and other families of 
distinction, who had been identified with the town, as bene- 
factors or residents ; but, alas, the destroying hand of time, 
or the still more ruthless one of puritanical violence, has 
swept these memorials away, without even a vestige remain- 
ing. A few years since, however, the five centre compart- 
ments of the chancel window were, through the liberality of 
two private individuals, adorned with good specimens of 
painted glass, after early English models, by a young artist 
named Gough, of Nottingham. 

Neither can I give you any better account of the monuments, 
tablets, and crosses which you would naturally look for in a 
church of such antiquity ; for they, if ever they existed, have 
shared the same fate as the windows, save and except that hid 
behind a pew in the south aisle lies recumbent a stone effigy, 
popularly considered as the monument of that pious and 
charitable benefactress to the town, Dame Cicely Flogan, 
who flourished in the days of Henry the eighth, and who, 
in the exuberance of her kindness, left inter alia an estate 
to the town, subject to the support of a bull and a boar, to 
be kept for the gratuitous use of the inhabitants for ever ; 
but which, as proved by the peculiar costume, is, in fact, the 
effigy of a youth of the time of Edward the fourth, and 
probably the son of some liberal benefactor to the church or 
its chantries. 

The Cartwrights, of Ossington, from whom sprung the 
celebrated politician, Major Cartwright, formerly considered 
this their family burial place, and here repose the remains of 
Captain, or as he was more generally called, Labrador Cart- 
wright, brother to the Major, and whose habits and eccentri- 
cities are frequently the theme of conversation among those 
of the "old standards" of the town who knew him, and who 
still remember his hawking on the forest. 

ST. JOHNS CHURCH. 

Dedicated to St. John the Baptist, was consecrated by the 
Bishop of Lincoln, on the 29th July, 1856. The late Gaily 
Knight, Esq., impressed by the want of church accommo- 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. \) 

dation in Mansfield, left a bequest of ^86,000 to be applied 
to the erection of a second church, to contain at least 500 
free sittings. In order to have a building of larger dimen- 
sions, the parishioners contributed a further sum of £ 1,000, 
and the result was the raising of this sacred edifice, capable 
of accommodating 1,000 worshippers. I should also add 
that His Grace the Duke of Portland presented an additional 
^61,000 to be applied by the Bishop, who is the patron, 
towards building the parsonage house, or for any purpose he 
deemed best. 

The edifice is of the style called Early Decorated, and con- 
sists of a nave, two aisles, chancel, tower and spire, and a 
small porch on the south side. It is built externally of the 
stone for which the neighbourhood is so famous ; the interior 
being cased throughout with Ancaster stone. It is fitted 
throughout with open stained deal benches. The dimensions 
of the building are as follows : — The nave ninety-two feet 
six inches in length within the walls, and the width, including 
the aisles, fifty-nine feet six inches ; the chancel thirty-five 
feet by twenty-two feet. The tower, which is about sixteen 
feet square, is eighty feet in height ; the spire about a hundred 
feet. The architect selected by the bishop was Mr. Stevens 
of Derby, on whom the building reflects the highest possible 
credit. The entire cost, including the site, was £8, 734. 
Two stained glass windows are worthy of notice, one to the 
memory of Mrs. Moffatt, and the other (the east side window) 
to the late James Greenhalgh, Esq., the loss of whom was 
deeply felt by all who knew him, he being ever ready to pro- 
mote the welfare and social improvement of the people. 



END OF LETTER I. 



10 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



LETTEE II. 



THE ROYAL FREE GRAMMAR 
SCHOOL. 

On the south side of the parish church, and within the pre- 
cincts of the church yard, stands the Free Grammar School, 
a poor wretched-looking edifice, not at all adequate, in my 
humble judgment, to the wants of a town of ten thousand 
inhabitants ; and I cannot forbear expressing a hope en 
passant that the trustees will ere long take up arms against 
the sea of troubles which encompasses them, and out of the 
splendid endowment erect a school and school-house com- 
mensurate with the " spirit of the age," and worthy in every 
respect of the name and intentions of its noble founder, the 
" Good Queen Bess." 

For many years this institution was of little or no advantage 
to the inhabitants ; but it is now conducted with becoming 
energy and attention by the two masters, the Rev. C. A. Row, 
M.A., and Mr. Espin. 

The management of the school estates was until lately vested in 
the hands of the vicar and church- 
wardens, who, as before stated, 
were constituted a corporate body 
for possession of church lands by 
I Philip and Mary, and were also, 
singular enough, again constituted 
' a corporation by Elizabeth for pos- 
session of school lands. Both these 
estates have, in consequence of 
mismanagement and ignorance, be- 
come so intermixed as not to be 
distinguished ; consequently only one corporate seal is now 
used, of which, as a curiosity I send you a pretty wax im- 
pression. 




A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 11 

By a recent decree of the Court of Chancery the above 
estates are vested in new trustees, who, having a new scheme 
for their guide, will, it is to be hoped, place the charities on 
such a footing as will prove a lasting benefit to the town. 

There are other schools in the town, namely, M Clerkson's 
Charity," founded by Faith Clerkson, in 1731, for the clothing 
and education of poor boys and girls belonging to the parish. 
This charity has long been of inestimable benefit to the poor ; 
and the trustees have recently erected a spacious school-house 
near the railway station, to enable them still further to in- 
crease the utility of the foundation. 

I understand that lately (1859) His Grace the Duke of 
Portland has granted ^65 00 and a site for infant and Sunday 
schools for the parish church, and the sum of ^61,000 to- 
wards national schools in St. John's district, provided other 
subscriptions can be raised to complete them. 

Thompson's School is a neat unpretending little structure, 
founded by a charitable individual of that name, for the edu- 
cation of poor boys and girls. It is situate in a back street, 
known as Toot Hill Lane, so called from the Dutch word, 
" Tuteu," to blow a horn, it being the place where the " na- 
tives" used to place a night-watch to blow a horn for the 
purpose of preventing the nocturnal depredations of those 
then very amiable " Sherwood Rangers," the wolves. 

The founder of this charity has attained considerable 
celebrity in and near Mansfield, not only by the deeds of 
mercy with which he adorned the latter part of his chequered 
and remarkable life, but also from the singularity of directing 
that his remains should be interred, not in the burial place of 
his family, but beneath the wild heather of his native forest ! 
His reason for so singular an injunction (which was fulfilled) 
is said to be this : Being one of the survivors of the disas- 
trous earthquake at Lisbon, in 1 755, of which he published 
an account in the Gentlemen's Magazine of 'that date, he was 
on his return home so struck with the similarity of the situa- 
tion and prospect to that of the hill where he had escaped after 
the sudden earthquake, and from which he witnessed the 
succeeding awful fire, and the destruction of much of his own 
property, that by a whimsical fancy he resolved to be here 
buried. 

A pleasant morning's walk brought me within the hallowed 



12 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

precincts of " Thompson's Grave." A group of trees, encircled 
by a plain stone wall, denotes the spot ; but 

" No Sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe, 
Or storied urns record who rests below." 

The prospect from this interesting spot is extremely beau- 
tiful and varied. With a background of venerable trees on the 
right hand, and before you the wide expanse of forest, dis- 
playing its changing carpet of brown and purple heath and 
golden-crested gorse ; a foreground consisting of the rich 
foliage of Birkland's noble oaks, flanked by the red walls and 
roofs of the village of Edwinstowe, and the grey spire of 
its venerable church, calm and graceful in the rays of the 
setting sun ; bordered in the distance by the richly-wooded 
rising ground, which is still surmounted by the distant 
hills of Yorkshire, and that part of Lincolnshire where 
stands the noblest of English minsters ; whilst on the other 
side may be seen the church of Sutton-in-Ashfield ; and the 
lofty turrets of Hard wick Hall, rising majestically above the 
woodland scenery with which they are surrounded, complete a 
landscape, which, of its kind, is, I think, unequalled. 

A few short paces from this elevated and lovely scene and 
you are within the sylvan precincts of the 

BERRY HILL ESTATE, 

the residence of Sir Edward S. Walker. Sir Edward is a real 
lover of agriculture, and a first-rate farmer, as the well- 
arranged buildings, the splendid cattle sheds, the well-bred 
stock, and the neat fences which meet the eye demonstrate ; 
he is also a liberal patron of the fine arts, and hence the 
choice selection of pictures, &c, in his possession, which I now 
enumerate, viz. :— 

In the Drawing Room. — Virgin and Child, by Jordaens 
(No. 22) ; Ostade, his own portrait (No. 67) ; Flemish 
Musicians, by Teniers (No. 74) ; Interior of a Corps de 
Garde, by Le Due (No. Ill); A Sea View on the Coast 
of Holland, stated as from the gallery of Mr. Vandergucht. 
(No. 187). The above five pictures were purchased at 
Fonthill Abbey ; the numbers refer to the printed catalogue 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 13 

of the sale. Two Landscapes, with Figures, by Zuccarelli ; 
Two Groups of Figures, by Angelica Kauffmann ; Interior of 
Amsterdam Cathedral, by Emanuel deWitte; Virgin and Lamb, 
by Agnese Dolci; Virgin and Child, copy from Leonardo 
da Vinci, an enamel, by Bone. 

Dining Room. — Boar Hunt, by Snyders ; Winter Scene, by 
Molyn; Sea Piece, with Market People Landing, by De 
Maone ; Fruit, by Walscapellen ; An Interior, with Dutch 
Boors, from the Marquess of Lansdowne's collection, by 
Cornelius de Bega ; Dutch Peasants Skating, by Van der 
Meulen ; Italian Fair, from the collection of Lucien Bonaparte, 
by Karl du Jardin ; Domestic Fowls, by Hondekoeter ; The 
Grecian Daughter, by Reubens ; Sea View, Morning, by 
Vandervelde ; Forest Scenery, by Barker ; Cottage ditto, by 
ditto ; Landscape, with Military Figures, by Verschuring ; 
Virgin and Child, from Sir Wm. Stanley's sale, by Francesco 
Camillo ; Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath, from Sir W. 
Stanley's sale, by Guercino ; Lady in full Costume, by 
Gerard Terburg ; Hermit, by Spagnoletto ; Murder of the 
Innocents, by ditto ; Moonlight, with Eruption of Vesuvius, 
by Wright, of Derby ; Alexander introducing Campaspe to 
Apelles, by Andrea Casali, from the Wanstead sale ; Diana 
and Acteeon, by Corregio ; Marble Group, by Hancock ; 
Youth and Joy, Starting on the Pilgrimage of Life, so- light- 
hearted and buoyant that they tread on the flowers without 
bruising them. 

A short and picturesque walk from Berry Hill brings the 
visitor to the Lindhurst Farm of the Duke of Portland, with 
its elegantly-built villa residence, now and for many years past 
in the occupation of Richard Godson Millns, Esq., who, from 
his costly outlay in first-rate steam-power, has set an exam- 
ple to the surrounding farmers, which they would do well to 
follow. 

Hard by this " generous retreat," will be found not only 
the mansion called Fountain Dale, (see letter iv.), but also 
the celebrated Blidworth Stone, which is colossal in its dimen- 
sions, and from its peculiar and picturesque situation is popu- 
larly considered as a Druidical remain. It appears to be a 
kind of natural concrete of gravel and sand ; and it is not for 
me to even so much as to conjecture either its origin or use. 



14 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

From hence the visitor will naturally ramble into the village 
of Blidworth, which, for commanding situation and scenery, 
stands unrivalled in this locality. The church, to use a 
hacknied phrase, is " a neat structure," with tower and three 
bells; and was considerably enlarged in 1839. It has now 
the additional attraction of a beautiful stained-glass window 
on the north side : subject — i ' The Nativity." Underneath 
is the following inscription : 

"To the memory of John and Mary Need, by their affectionate son, 
S. W. Welfitt." 

As I have no wish to fatigue you with particulars of all the 
charming and attractive features of my sylvan ramble, I will 
now give you a brief account of some of the public buildings 
in the town. To begin, then, with 

THE RAILWAY STATION 

Standing upon a portion of what has long been termed the 
Portland Wharf, which was, until lately, the terminus of the 
Mansfield and Pinxton Railway, but now of the Nottingham 
and Mansfield Branch of the Midland Railway. It is situate 
within a shorter distance of the Market-place than any station 
with which I am acquainted. This makes the inhabitants the 
more to regret that their turn of locomotive accommodation 
did not arrive in the high and palmy days of railway specula- 
tion, when "thousands'' were lavished upon all kinds of 
cunning and useless devices in architecture. Well, indeed, it 
would have been had the company on all occasions exercised 
the same rigid economy which has directed their operations 
here ; and, though not inclined to be censorious, it must be 
confessed that this plain brick building contrasts by no means 
harmoniously with the strong bold fronts of stoue around. 

From the platform you command a view of a picturesque, 
though not extensive, landscape, including the High Oakham 
Estate of His Grace the Duke of Portland, and an undulating 
graceful range of hills, to which I shall have occasion again 
to allude ; and in the centre of a ploughed field, on the sum- 
mit of this range, stands the ruin of a square strong building, 
celebrated as having been erected by a certain nervous gentle- 
man as an ark of safety from a virulent fever, which in the 
last century raged in Mansfield ; scarcely, however, had him- 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 15 

self and family removed to this new residence, when they fell 
victims to the destroying hand from which they had so timidly, 
and as they thought securely, fled. The habitation has since 
been known by the appropriate name of the " Folly House." 
To the right as you enter the station stands Broom House, 
an elegant and I believe well-managed private asylum, or re- 
treat, as it is more generally called. 

THE TOWN HALL 

May be considered the next building of interest ; and it is 
precisely that kind of bold, spacious, and noble building of 
which any moderate-sized town would have just cause to be 
proud. There is an excellent news-room and library con- 
nected with it ; and the well-proportioned front contains one 
of the best assembly rooms within miles of the place. From 
a neat turret shines forth the illuminated facade of a public 
clock, liberally provided by the company of spirited share- 
holders, who, in 1836, advanced the "needful" for the erection 
of this handsome building, and the adjoining market-house ; 
but who, by the bye, have hitherto received a very miserable 
return for their enterprize. 

The architect, who so satisfactorily justified the confidence 
of his employers, was Mr. James Nicholson, of Southwell, 
assisted, I believe, by his son, Mr. W. Nicholson, of Lincoln. 

Alterations have been recently completed providing a com- 
moidous Corn Exchange. 

Almost adjoining the Town Hall stands a very pretty little 
savings bank, well adapted to the wants of the district, and 
at the corner of West Gate may be seen 

THE MOOT HALL, 

With its handsome pediment or armorial sculpture. This 
building was erected in 1752, by the Countess of Oxford, 
then Lady of the Manor, and maternal ancestor of the present 
noble Lord, the Duke of Portland, as a place wherein to 
transact the business of the manor. It has also long been 
used for the nomination and belting, as farmers call it, of 
" Knights of the Shire." 
The building was originally supported upon massive stone 



16 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

columns, the space underneath the hall being left open for 
the use of the market people : but it was many years ago 
converted into shops and private residences. 

THE PUBLIC BATHS, 

Situate in Littleworth, were erected by Mr. C. Lindley, in 
1854, at a cost of <£1,500, under the superintendence of Mr. 
C. J. Neale, architect. They comprise hot and cold and 
swimming baths, and are well frequented. 

THE CEMETERY, 

Which occupies a space of about ten acres, with about 10,3/6 
grave spaces, given to the town by the Commoners at the 
time of the Inclosure, was opened in December, 1857. Mr. 
Lindley has the merit of being the builder, from designs by 
Messrs. Pritchett and Sons. The entire cost of erecting the 
chapels, &c, and laying out the grounds, was S3 ,600. The 
latter are most tastefully laid out and planted with trees 
and shrubs, adding a new grace to the natural features of 
this beautiful spot. 

" Home of the Dead ! the last abiding place 
Of earthly greatness — intellectual grace — 
Of youthful loveliness — of moral worth ; 
Of human frailty too ; — the same cold earth 
Doth form your narrow bed ; and the same sod 
Shall cover ye, till summoned to your God !" 

On the summit of the hill is erected a substantial and 
handsome mausoleum, by Sir E. S. Walker. A committee 
have the control of the cemetery, and suffer nothing savouring 
of bad taste to appear in the designs and mortuary inscriptions. 



END OF LETTER II, 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



17 



LETTEE III. 



THE BENTINCK MEMORIAL, 

a charming Gothic structure, of which I inclose a neat sketch, 
was erected by public subscription in the year 1851, in 

the Market-place, to the 
memory of the lamented 
Lord George Bentinck, 
and bears the following 
inscription : — 

"To the memory of Lord 
George Frederic Cavendish Ben- 
tinck, second surviving son of 
William Henry Cavendish Scott 
fourth Duke of Portland. He 
died the 21st day of September, 
An. Dom. mdcccxlviii, in the 
forty-seventh year of his age. 
His ardent patriotism and un- 
compromising honesty were only 
equalled by the persevering zeal 
and extraordinary talents which 
called forth the grateful homage 
of those who, in erecting this 
memorial, pay a heart-felt tri- 
bute to exertions which prema- 
turely brought to the grave one 
who might long have lived the 
pride of this his native coun- 
try.' 5 

The very beautiful de- 
sign is by Mr. T. C. 
Hine, of Nottingham, 
the architect, and the 
erection of it was committed to the care of Mr. Lindley, of 
this place. It is an exquisite structure in itself, and a fit 

c 




18 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

tribute to the indomitable courage and energetic eloquence of 
him who stood so boldly forward, and so ably combatted what 
he deeply felt to be changes fraught with hazard to the 
prosperity of his country. 

His premature death might truly cause his many friends 
to say — 

" 'Twas thine own genius gave the final blow, 
And help'd to plant the wound that laid thee low : 
So the struck eagle, stretch'd upon the plain, 
No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
"View'd his own feather on the fatal dart, 
And wing'd the shaft that quivered in his heart ; 
Keen were his pangs, hut keener far to feel, 
He nursed the pinion which impell'd the steel ; 
While the same plumage that had warm'd his nest, 
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast." 

The natural productions of Mansfield, consist of two kinds 
of stone— red and white — used for building purposes and held 
in high estimation for their beauty and durability ; an excellent 
limestone ; a clay suitable for making bricks and the coarser 
kinds of earthenware ; and a singular deposit of fine micaceous 
red sand, of widely known value to ironfonders for producing 
the finer castings. This sand is found in one of the hills to 
which I directed your attention from the railway station plat- 
form, and the quarry is worked in an enterprizing manner by 
Messrs. Barringer and Carter. 

Connected with the trade or commerce of the town, are the 
various and extensive Mills stationed at intervals along the 
industrious River Man, and of which the firm of Messrs. I 
Richard Greenhalgh and Sons possesses three, employing nearly 
500 hands in doubling cotton yarns for the lace trade of Not- 
tingham, Buckingham, Belgium, and Calais, as well as for the 
ribbon manufacture of Coventry, and the Orleans and Merino 
cloth of Bradford, &c. 

The number of spindles in these three mills, is about 30,000. 
At their Field Mill is a large water-wheel of forty feet in 
diameter, weighing seventy tons, which,*with the conducting 
water courses at two different levels, cut out of the hard lime- 
stone rock, form a fine specimen of engineering skill and 
enterprize, and was completed at the cost of a£2,300. 

I cannot help mentioning to the honor of this firm, the 
praiseworthy sympathy they manifest for the whole well-being 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 19 

and social improvement of their work people, and I heartily 
wish them a continuance of the prosperity they so well deserve. 

The Doubling Mills of Mr. Walliss, on the Nottingham 
Road, will also amply repay a visit. 

The Steam Saw Mills of Mr. Lindley, the eminent builder ; 
the New Works of his son, Mr. Robert Lindley ; the exten- 
sive Iron Foundry of Mr. Midworth ; the Sherwood Foundry 
of Messrs. Tindall and Maude ; the Meadow Foundry of 
Messrs. Bradshaw and Sansom ; and that of Mr. Kirkland ; 
and the well-arranged and admirably conducted Brewery, be- 
longing to the Mansfield Brewery Company, situate in Little- 
worth ; as also the Tobacco Manufactory of Mr. Bownes ; 
and the extensive Mustard Mills of Mr. David Cooper Bar- 
ringer, widely known as the "Rock Valley Mills," are all 
establishments of importance and interest. 

The town is also much engaged in the manufacture of silk 
and cotton hosiery, with which, in fact, it has been identified 
from a very early period ; and many are the tales now told of 
the terrors and prevalence of that system of Luddism which 
prevailed to such a fearful extent some forty years ago. Pre- 
vious to that time some of the first houses in the trade " took 
in" at Mansfield. Mr. Orton is now the principal hosier in 
the place, and possesses a superior kind of machinery, espe- 
cially for " silk knotts." I now give you a list of the eminent 

LITERARY MEN 

whom this town has produced, and then, for the present, 
farewell Mansfield, — in whose grey substantial walls I have 
experienced much hospitality, and received much delight, 
and of which I shall then have given, with all humility be 
it spoken, perhaps a more accurate account, though short, 
than any I could refer you to, yet so ample are the materials 
for a work of no little value, that at some future time I may 
endeavour, if not anticipated, to weave them into a complete 
history of the many striking and interesting events connected 
with its past and present existence, and in such an under- 
taking I have the promise of most able assistance. 

First, is William de Mannesfield, a Dominician Friar, who 
in the thirteenth century was held in considerable repute for 
his learning. 

Next we have Henry Ridley, M.D., who was born here in 



20 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

1653, and is celebrated as the author of several important 
medical works. 

Dr. William Chappel, — a learned prelate, was horn of poor 
parents, and educated partly at the Grammar School here, 
and partly at Christ's College, Cambridge, of which he was 
elected fellow. He disputed with King James when that 
pedantic monarch visited Oxford in 1624, and as may reason- 
ably be imagined, foiled his Majesty, who was afterwards pleased 
to remark that " he was glad that the doctor was his subject 
and not another's lest he should lose the throne as well as the 
chair" In 1 638 he was appointed Bishop of Cork, but the 
Irish Puritans persecuted him with great severity as " popishly 
inclined," though it is remarkable that when he was at Cam- 
bridge the high Churchmen took him to be a Puritan. Having 
left Ireland, he died at Derby in 1649, and was buried at the 
village of Bilsthorpe, near Mansfield. The year before his 
death, this pious divine printed " Methodus Concionandi," 
which was translated into English soon after. He is sup- 
posed by many to have been the author of that celebrated 
work the " Whole Duty of Man." 

Last, and not least in local estimation, comes Robert Dods- 
ley, the eminent bookseller and author. An amiable and 
accomplished man, whose memory will ever be esteemed as 
a remarkable example of genius, springing up and advancing 
to usefulness and honour amidst unfavourable circumstances. 
He was born at Mansfield, in the year 1703, of poor parents, 
and though his father was then master of the Grammar School, 
he does not appear to have had the inclination or the power 
to give his son a liberal education, as the subject of this short 
memoir frequently alluded to in his writings and in after life. 

He was apprenticed to a stocking weaver, but feeling a dis- 
like to that employment, he induced his master to cancel his 
indentures, and succeeded, after some adversities, in obtaining 
the situation of footman in the establishment of the Honorable 
Mrs. Lowther. His first attempt as an author took place 
during the time he was in this lady's service, when he pub- 
lished, by subscription, a volume of poems, called the " Muse 
in Livery," which, although, perhaps, destitute of any great 
merit, served to attract both publie attention and favor. 

He now entered the service of Mr. Dartineuf, a noted volup- 
tuary, and one cf the intimate friends of Pope, and here wrote 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 21 

an elegant little dramatic satire, entitled the " Toy Shop," 
a just and good natured rebuke on fashionable absurdities. 
The merits of this performance attracted the notice of Mr. 
Pope, who continued from that time to be his warm friend 
and zealous patron, and by his influence the piece was per- 
formed at Covent Garden Theatre, in the year 1735, with 
very great applause. Dodsley was now enabled by his profits 
as an author to set up a bookseller's shop in Pall Mall, where 
the same prudence and worth which gained him esteem in his 
former condition, now secured for himself and his establish- 
ment the countenance of many of the first literary persons of 
the day, including Pope, Lyttleton, Chesterfield, Johnson, and 
Glover, and also many persons of rank, and he shortly became 
of very high standing in the Metropolis. Proceeding at the 
same time in his career as an author, he wrote the farce 
called the " King and Miller of Mansfield," founded on an 
old ballad, and referring to scenes with which he had been 
familiar in his early life. This succeeded so well that he 
produced a sequel to it, entitled " Sir John Cockle at Court." 

In 1/41, he brought out a musical piece, called " The 
Blind Beggar of Bethnal Green," and in 1744, animated by 
a spirit of adventure uncommon in his own time, he published 
a collection of plays, by old authors, in twelves volumes. In 
1745 he tried to introduce on the stage a new species of pan- 
tomime in " Rex et Pontifex." 

In 1/48 appeared a loyal masque in honor of the peace of 
Aix-la-Chapelle. His next work was the well-known "Econ- 
omy of Human Life," in which the social duties are treated 
in a style intended to resemble the scriptures and other 
oriental writings. 

Another of the more valuable works projected by Dodsley, 
was the "Preceptor," first published in 1749, and designed 
to embrace what was then thought a complete course of 
education. In 1758, he ventured to rise to tragedy and 
composed "Cleone," which although spoken unfavourably 
of by Garrick, long drew full audiences at Covent Garden, 
and was highly admired by Johnson, annexed to this tragedy 
is an ode, entitled " Melpomene ; or the Regions of Terrour 
and Pity." A selection of fables, in prose, accompanied by 
a well-written essay of fable, was one of his latest productions. 
Besides the above, he published a collection of his own works 



22 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

under the modest title of " Trifles/"* in one volume, octavo, 
and " Public Virtue" a poem, in quarto ; also a " Collection 
of Poems by Different Hands," in six volumes, 12mo. He 
also had the discernment to see the merit, and usher into 
notice two works of certainly rather opposite character — - 
"Tristram Shandy" and "Young's Night Thoughts." For 
the first, a publisher at York, to whom it was previously 
offered by Sterne, refused to give j630 ! 

Never forgetting the place of his birth, he thus exclaims 
in one of his poems : — 

" O native Sherwood ! happy now thy bard, 
Might these his rural notes, to future time, 
Boast of tall groves, that nodding o'er thy plain 
Rose to their tuneful melody. But ah! 
Beneath the feeble efforts of a muse, 
Untutored by the lore of Greece or 'Rome, 
A stranger to the fair Castalian springs, 
Whence happier poets inspiration draw, 
And the sweet magic of persuasive song, 
The weak presumption, the fond hope expires." 

After a life spent in the exercise of every social duty, and 
retaining the love and admiration of men of the brightest 
abilities and highest rank, he fell a martyr to the gout, at the 
house of his friend, Mr. Spence, at Durham, and was interred 
in the abbey church-yard, where his tomb is thus inscribed : — 

If you have any respect 

for uncommon Industry and Merit 

regard this place, 

in which are deposited the Remains of 

Mr. ROBEKT DODSLEY : 

who, as an Author, raised himself 

much above what could have been expected 

from one in his rank of life, 

and without a learned education : 

and who, as a Man, was scarce 

exceeded by any in Integrity of Heart, 

and Purity of Manners and Conversation. 

He left this life for a better, Sept. 25, 1764. 

in the 61st year of his age. 

If this is but a barren list of literary men, it may be well 
eked out by those who, for the value of their 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 23 



INVENTIONS, 

ought to be eminent, but who have suffered the too common 
fate of genius, in seeing others of more plodding habits make 
splendid fortunes upon the foundation of their discoveries, 
while themselves sink into comparative obscurity. 

"The Circular Saw was invented here, by Joseph Murray, 
who worked as a wood and iron turner, at the Rock Valley 
mills, under the late Mr. John Brown. The very first that 
was produced of this now important instrument was lately in 
possession of an intelligent old man, who kept it as a choice 
curiosity. It is made out of plain iron plate, measures four 
inches in diameter, and dates as near i( sixty years since" as 
makes no matter. 

This same Murray was son of the old servant of that name 
who is celebrated as being the faithful and favourite " Old 
Joe Murray" of Lord Byron. 

A fellow- workman of Murray's, named Joseph Tootel, was 
the inventor of the fluted or grooved rollers used in cotton 
spinning, and now known by the name of " Stretchers." 

Two other inventions of great consequence to the cotton 
trade were made by the late John Green, a native, and respect- 
able ironmonger of Mansfield. These are the inclined plane 
movement of the spindle, and the cone movement, both used 
in the process of spinning. 

No better proof of the value of the above inventions can be 
given than the fact that none of them have yet been super- 
seded, even by the inventive genius of the present age ! 



END OF LETTER III. 



24 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST- 



LETTEE IV. 



NEWSTEAD ABBEY. 

My former letter having been rather more prolix than you 
may think the merits of its subject deserve, I will endeavour 
to make amends by now leaving the comparatively insipid 
records of a market town, for the consideration of one of the 
most interesting places in the kingdom, whether regarded as 
the ancestral and fondly loved domain of a mighty poet, im- 
mortalized by his repeated and ardent apostrophes in its 
praise and to its memory ; or from its being in itself, in the 
words of Washington Irving, " one of the finest specimens 
in existence of those quaint and romantic piles, half castle, 
half convent, which remain as monuments of the olden times 
of England. It stands, too, in the midst of a legendary 
neighbourhood, being in the heart of Sherwood forest, and 
surrounded by the haunts of Robin Hood and his band of 
out-laws, so famous in ancient ballad and nursery tale !" 

It was a fine autumnal morning that I sallied from my 
pleasant quarters at Mansfield upon this long-anticipated 
pilgrimage, and, after a walk for about four miles upon the 
Nottingham turnpike road, mostly bounded by extensive 
woods, occasionally relieved by heathery glades and patches 
of cultivation, and passing within a few score yards a place of 
no less celebrity than Fountain Dale, once the abode of the 
"Saint Militant" Friar Tuck,* I arrived at an inn called the 
" Hut," lately re-built in old English style, and which stands 
by the road side but a few yards from the entrance of New- 
stead Park, for the accommodation of the numerous parties 
who arrive to visit the abbey. 

Immediately in front of the park gates stands a magnificent 
oak tree, a remnant of the old forest, and which was pre- 

*See Appendix. 



A VISIT TO SflERWOOD FOREST. 25 

served from destruction by the liberality and good taste of 
several gentlemen of Mansfield, who purchased it of the poet's 
grand-uncle and immediate predecessor, William, fifth, or as 
he is called " the wicked" Lord Byron, in order to prevent 
its sharing the fate which he, from pecuniary, or too probably 
malignant, motives, ruthlessly dealt out to hundreds of its 
noble and majestic brethren. The growth of this tree, as if 
conscious of its importance, has been so supremely beautiful 
both as regards shape, and the extent of its spreading 
branches, that it cannot fail to call forth admiration. 

Leaving the Hut and turnpike road, the way leads through 
the wilder portion of the park for about a mile, when, as 
though by enchantment, a most glorious scene bursts upon 
the view. On the right hand lay a splendid sheet of water, 
fringed with young woods that bow their whispering homage 
o'er the margin. 

" Her great bright eye all silently 
Up to the sky was cast," 

reflecting all the depth and brightness of the tranquil heavens ; 
aquatic wild birds studded the silvery surface, as though they 
had a "vested interest" in the place, and possessed a "pro- 
tection order," against all molestation ! A romantic waterfall, 
and the ruins of a rustic mill, together with the gentle mur- 
muring of the foaming falls, added to the richly-wooded 
country around, served to complete a picture upon which me- 
mory, so long as " she holds her seat, will love to dwell." 

Turning to the left the venerable abbey rises in solemn 
grandeur, the long and lovely ivy clinging fondly to the rich 
tracery of a former age. You, in whom the poetic tempera- 
ment is strong, would, I know, pardon any expressions of 
enthusiasm that I might indulge in, but such feelings have 
been so often and so well " done," that I leave you only to 
conceive what every man must feel as he gazes for the first 
time upon these walls, and remembers that it was here, even 
amid the comparative ruins of a building once dedicated to 
the sacred cause of religion and her twin-sister charity, that 
the genius of Byron was first developed — here that he paced 
with youthful melancholy the halls of his illustrious ancestors, 
and trod the sombre walks of the long banished monks — 
feeling, as he expressed — 



26 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

" Nevvstead! fast falling, once resplendent dome ! 
Religions shrine ! repentant Henry's* pride ! 
Of Warriors, Monks, and Danes, the cloistered tomb, 
"Whose pensive shades around thy ruins glide. 
Hail to thy pile ! more honour'd in the fall 
Than modern mansions in their pillar'd state ; 
Proudly majestic frowns thy vaulted hall, 
Scowling defiance on the blasts of fate." 

Newstead abbey was founded by Henry the second, in or 
about the year 1 1 70, as a priory of Black Canons, an order 
having for their tutelary patron St. Augustine, and professing 
great austerity of life and practice. It was dedicated to the 
Virgin Mary, and there is still situate in a conspicuous niche 
of the chapel ruins, a sculptured virgin and child, which, with 
many other specimens of early English sculpture, is still in a 
beautiful state of preservation. It continued to be a priory of 
some importance until the time of Henry the eighth, who, in 
his zeal for the temporal welfare of himself, and to the con- 
sternation of the then "religious world," set about the whole- 
sale destruction of the monastic institutions of the country. 
Newstead, whose revenues where then valued at £2 1 9. 18s. 8d. 
was too choice a morsel to be overlooked, and it consequently 
fell a victim to the monarch's cupidity and sacrilege, and 
those venerable doors which had for centuries been open for 
the reception of the poor, the sick, and the way-worn, became 
closed to their prayers and cries. 

Being granted by the same royal favor to Sir John Byron, 
who at that time held the distinguished and important ap- 
pointment of Lieutenant of the Forest of Sherwood, it was 
most likely held by him as an official residence, at all events 
he converted it into one of more than ordinary splendour. 
During the troubles which marked the history of the great rebel- 
lion, which ended in the martyrdom of the unfortunate and pious 
King Charles the first, the Byrons distinguished themselves as 
warm adherents of royalty, and Newstead bravely sustained a 
siege from the Parliamentarians, thus, as Lord Byron sings — 

" The abhey once, a regal fortress now, 
Encircled by insulting rebel powers ; 
War's dread machines o'erhang thy threatning brow, 
And dart destruction in sulphureous showers." 

*Henry the second founded Newstead immediately after the murder of 
Thomas a Becket. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. Z/ 

The " roundheads" were not the men either to forgive or 
forget, and therefore on the death of Charles, the Byron estates, 
including Newstead, were placed under sequestration, in com- 
pany with a host of other delinquents' estates. 

During the civil war in 1 643, Charles the first marked his 
high sense of Sir John Byron's loyalty and devotion by raising 
him to the peerage, and immediately after the restoration, 
Charles the second restored the sequestrated estates to their 
former owner, from whom they passed by descent to the late 
Lord Byron, who sold the abbev and estate (consisting of 
nearly 4000 acres) in 1815, to T. Clawton, Esq., for £ 140,000, 
who was unable to make good the purchase. 

The present esteemed owner, Colonel Wildman, purchased 
them in 1818 of Lord Byron, for about & 100,000, and has 
since, by his judicious alterations and improvements, proved 
himself a most worthy owner of a place at once the pride of 
the forest, and the admiration of thousands, who have, by his 
courtesy, been permitted to traverse its spacious galleries and 
venerable halls. 

Not only has the gallant Colonel laid out immense sums in 
its restoration and adornment, and the increase of its orna- 
mental grounds, but he has re-built nearly every farm house 
upon the estate. 

At one time the park was of immense extent, containing no 
less than 2700 head of deer, who could browse in uninter- 
rupted seclusion beneath the shades of the broad-spreading 
oaks, for which this part of the forest was renowned, but the 
hand which destroyed the noble timber of the estate, was 
influenced also by the same motives to deal death and de- 
traction amongst these graceful creatures, and that to such 
an extent, that the carcases were for a length of time exposed 
for sale in Mansfield market, as commonly, and at as cheap a 
rate as forest mutton, until the whole of the noble herd was 
literally exterminated. 

The upper lake is formed by obstructing the waters of a 
small river, Leen, a work probably of almost equal antiquity 
with the abbey itself. It was the old mill dam of the 
Monks, by which their corn mill was worked, and it possesses 
as many traditions and fables as every other part of this 
romance-haunted valley. 

These chiefly relate to the treasures which are supposed to 



28 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

lie in its depths, and to the pranks of the " wicked" old lord, 
who, by the way, built the mimic fortifications on each side, 
a poor compensation for the destruction of the ancient timber 
which then surrounded it. The present rising woods were in 
excellent taste, planted by the late Lord Byron. 

A large brazen eagle and pedestal of antique workmanship, 
was some years ago fished up from the bottom of the lake, 
and which, on being cleaned, was found to contain in the 
hollow pedestal a number of parchment deeds and grants, 
bearing the seals of Edward the third, and Henry the eight, 
which had, no doubt, been thus sunk by the Friars, for safety 
in some perilous time. 

One of the deeds thus discovered, with the great seal of 
England attached, is erroneously described by Washington 
Irving as an " Indulgence," or plenary pardon, for all crimes 
the Friars might choose to commit, &c, when in fact it has 
nothing whatever of this character, and did not emanate from 
the Pope or Church of Rome at all ; but when Henry the 
fifth required money for the prosecution of his wars in France, 
Chicheley, then Archbishop of Canterbury, agreed to find it 
by making all the monasteries and religious houses which had 
been impeached in the previous reign before the council at 
Oxford, purchase (according to their means) a general pardon. 
The document in question is one of these pardons. 

They are all carefully treasured by Colonel Wildman, and 
the eagle has been transferred to Southwell minster, where, 
in the chancel, it fulfils the slightly diverted purpose of being 
used as a lectern, or stand for a folio Bible, instead of sup- 
porting its former burden — the missal. 

Before visiting the interior of the abbey, it is well to enjoy 
a walk through the pretty grounds, which have, during the 
past few years been tastefully arranged and enlarged by Colonel 
Wildman. A gently winding path, which commands a fine 
view of the lower lake, leads to an aviary, in which are some 
beautiful specimens of the gold and silver pheasant, and after, 
passing a rusticated Swiss cottage, on the way to the kitchen 
gardens, my guide, the intelligent old gardener, with his well- 
known civility, invited me into his dwelling, to exhibit a bottle 
of port wine, which belonged to a former Lord Byron, and 
now more than a hundred years of age ! Of course the 
crust and colour too have almost disappeared. Having passed 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 29 

the kitchen gardens, which are well laid out and ornamented 
with neat fountains, I was next attracted by a dismal looking 
pond, enshrouded by some aged and venerable yews, probably 
as ancient as the very abbey itself, and beneath the shade of 
whose " melancholy boughs," the early occupants have doubt- 
less oft reclined. At the head of this pond is a cold, crystal 
spring, which, I suppose, if these holy men are not much 
libelled, must have afforded them more pure water than 
they required. It was certainly used and much esteemed by 
Lord Byron. 

The dark woods in which are two leaden statues of Pan and 
a female Satyr, very fine specimens as works of art, are next 
worthy of attention, chiefly because a tree is shown whereon 
Byron once carved his own name and that of his sister, with 
the date, all of which are still legible. Lest this interesting 
specimen of his lordship's "hours of idleness" should fall a 
victim to that love of destruction to which we English are 
prone, the Colonel has very properly ordered that no one shall 
be allowed to go near the place without a guide. The very 
current story of a lady (?) having cut out and carried away 
one or two letters of the name is pure fiction. 

These woods were planted by the "wicked" Lord Byron 
before his fatal duel with Mr. Chaworth, and before the in- 
dulgence of his wayward passions had brought him to the 
condition of a solitary, morose and savage misanthrope. 

The statues used to be called by the country people the 
old lord's devils, and the wood in which they stand the devil's 
wood. 

After crossing an interesting and picturesque part of the 
gardens, I arrived within the precincts of the ancient chapel, 
near to which stands the neat marble monument, raised by 
Lord Byron, to denote the last resting-place of his favourite 
dog, whose death he thus announced to his friend Hodgson. 

" Boatswain is dead ! he died in a state of madness on the 
18th, after suffering much, yet retaining all the gentleness of 
his nature to the last, never attempting to do the least injury 
to any one near him." 

You are aware that it was upon the death of this favourite 
dog that the exquisite lines beginning 

" When some proud son of man returns to earth, 
Unknown to glory, but upheld by birth," &c. 



30 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

were written. In addition to this epitaph, the monument 
hears the following inscription : 

" Near this spot 

are deposited the remains of one 

who possessed beauty without vanity, 

strength without insolence, 

courage without ferocity, 

and all the virtues of man without his vices. 

This praise, which would be unmeaning flattery, 

if inscribed over human ashes, 

is but a just tribute to the memory of 

BOATSWAIN, a dog, 

who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803, 

and died at Newstead abbey, November 18, 1808." 

By a will which his lordship executed in 1811, he directed 
that his own body should be buried in a vault in the garden, 
near his faithful dog. This feeling of affection to his dumb 
and faithful follower, commendable in itself, seems here to 
have been carried beyond the bounds of reason and propriety. 

The next point of attraction in these gardens is the oak 
tree which the poet himself planted. It has now attained a 
goodly size, considering the slow growth of the oak, and bids 
fair to become a lasting memento of the noble bard, and to be 
a shrine to which thousands of pilgrims will resort in future 
ages to do homage to his mighty genius. He planted it on 
his first arrival at Newstead, in 1798, and ever after displayed 
the greatest regard for its prosperity, actuated, it is said, by 
an impression or fancy, that as the tree flourished so should 
he ; " as it fares," said he, " so will fare my fortunes/' 
When he again visited the abbey, in 1807, he found his pet 
tree choked up with weeds and almost destroyed, which cir- 
cumstance called forth those charming lines — 

" Young oak, when I planted thee deep in the ground, 
I hoped that thy days would be longer than mine ; 
That thy dark waving branches would flourish around 
And ivy thy trunk with its mantle entwine," &c. 

In a note to Murray's edition of his works, it is stated that 
shortly after Colonel Wildman took possession, he one day 
noticed this tree, and said to the servant who was with him, 
"here is a fine young oak, but it must be cut down, as it 
grows in an improper place." " I hope not, sir," replied the 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 31 

man ;" "for it is the one that my lord was so fond of, because 
he set it himself." Since that time the Colonel and all 
around have taken every possible care of it ; and strangers 
inquire for it as the " Byron oak," so that it promises to 
share in after times the celebrity of Shakspeare's mulberry, 
and Pope's willow. 

As space will not permit me to give you particulars of 

THE INTERIOR, 

<{ Full of long, sounding corridors it was, 

That over- vaunted, grateful gloom, 
Thro' which the live-long day my soul did pass, 

Well-pleased, from room to room." 

I must refer you to the little hand-book thereof, called the 
" Home and Grave of Byion," which contains some interest- 
ing particulars, not only of Newstead Abbey, but also of An- 
nesley Hall and the neighbourhood. 

With this reference, I finish my pleasing, but too imper- 
fectly executed, task of describing Newstead. To do it fall 
justice would indeed require an able hand. Even Washington 
Irving, with all his pleasant gossiping powers, has not wholly 
succeeded. In the pages of her poet alone, we find the truest 
notes to the feeling this subject engenders harmoniously struck, 
and, when pursuing my way to Annesley, I turned to take a 
parting look at the venerable abbey, some beautiful lines 
\>hich Mr. Gait sent to one of the magazines as original, came 
forcibly to my mind, and as ihey are not, I believe, in any 
edition of Byron's works, I cannot end better that by writing 
them out for your perusal too. 

"In the dome of my Sires as the clear moonbeam falls 
Through silence and shade o'er its desolate walls ; 
It shines from afar like the glories of old, 
It gilds, but it warms not — 'tis dazzling but cold. 

Let the sunbeam be bright for the younger of days ; 
'Tis the light that should shine on a race that decays, 
When the stars are on high, and the dews on the ground, 
And the long shadow lingers the ruin around. 

And the step that o'er echoes the grey floor of stone, 
Falls sullenly now, for 'tis only my own ; 
And sunk are the voices that sounded in mirth, 
And empty the goblets, and dreary the hearth. 



~32 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

And vain was each effort to raise and re-call 
The brightness of old to illumine our hall ; 
And vain was the hope to avert our decline, 
And the fate of my fathers has faded to mine. 

And their' s was the wealth and the fulness of fame, 
And mine to inherit too haughty a name ; 
And their's were the times and the triumphs of yore, 
And mine to regret, but renew them no more. 

And ruin is fixed on my tower and my wall, 
Too hoary to fade, and too massive to fall ; 
It tells not of Time's or the tempest's decay, 
But the wreck of the line that has held it in sway." 



ANNESLEY. 

After a picturesque walk through a country, every footstep of 
which is more or less associated with the name of Byron, I 
entered the wild and park-like domain of Annesley, which, 
with its numerous ridings, was founded by Patricius Viscount 
Chaworth, of Armagh, which is contiguous to the Newstead 
estates, and about two miles distant from the abbey. In the 
distance, the eye rests upon the interesting range of hills so 
famous by the poet's — 

" Hills of Annesley, bleak and barren, 
"Where my thoughtless childhood strayed ; 
How the northern tempests warring, 
Howl above the tufted shade. 

Now no more the hours beguiling, 
Former favorite haunts I see ; 
Now no more my Mary smiling, 
Makes ye seem a heaven to me." 

One, the most conspicuous of these wood-crowned heights, 
is more particularly interesting, from its being the scene of 
his parting with Miss Chaworth (previous to her marriage 
with a rival) ; a farewell, as he then thought, for ever, to her 

-" who was his life, 



The ocean to the river of his thoughts, 
"Which terminated all." 



In the " Dream," the place and most heart-stirring incident 
are thus vividly remembered : — 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 33 

" I saw two beings in the hnes of youth 
Standing upon a hill, a gentle hill, 
Green and of mild declivity, the last 
As 'twere the cape of a long ridge of such, 
Save that there was no sea to lave its base, 
But a most living landscape, and the wave 
Of woods and cornfields, and the abodes of men 
Scatter'd at intervals, and wreathing smoke 
Arising from such rustic roofs ; — the hill 
Was crown' d with a peculiar diadem 
Of trees in circular array, so fix'd, 
Not by the sport of nature, but of man : 
These two, a maiden and a youth, were there, 
Gazing — the one on all that was beneath, 
Fair as herself — but the boy gazed on her ; 
And both were young — yet not alike in youth. 
As the sweet moon on the horizon's verge, 
The maid was on the eve of womanhood ; 
The boy had fewer summers, but his heart 
Had far outgrown his years, and to his eye 
There was but one beloved face on earth, 
And that was shining on him." 



THE HALL 

is a mansion of great antiquity, and of a most patchwork style 
of architecture. So early as the Norman Conquest it is men- 
tioned as of the fee of Ralph Fitz Herbert ; and it was after- 
wards possessed by the Annesleys for many generations, from 
whom it descended, by marriage to the Chaworths of Wiverton, 
whose last representative by name, the ladye-love of Lord 
Byron, married John Musters, Esq., August, 1805. 

Close to the hall stands a venerable little church, approached 
from it by a shrubbery, and almost connected with it by a 
venerable ivy-mantled terrace. A number of broad-spreading 
trees shelter the sacred edifice, and shed a solemn quietude 
over the silent tombs. 

The interior of the hall is rambling and irregular, like its 
outward appearance ; but the whole is invested by Byron with 
charms that no modern mansion can boast. 

In the " Dream" I have before quoted from, he says : 

" There was an ancient mansion, and before 
Its walls there was a steed caparison'd : 
Within an antique oratory stood 



34 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

The boy of whom I speak ; * * 

* * * * he passed 
From out the massy gate of that old hall, 
And mounting on his steed, he went his way, 
And ne'er repass'd that hoary threshold more." 

From this time, until the recent restorations and improve- 
ments effected by the present proprietor, John Chaworth 
Musters, Esq., the "antique oratory" had been a perfect and 
disgraceful ruin ; and chilling desolation reigned through the 
old hall of the Chaworths, in consequence of the death of Mr. 
Musters. Every choice memento of "the bright morning 
star of Annesley," and her long line of ancestors, every 
article of furniture, antique china, paintings, &c, were 
" scattered to the four winds" by that most relentless of all 
dispersers, the auctioneer's hammer. 

The hall has been so thoroughly restored, and the grounds 
and the entire estate have been so re-arranged and improved 
as to make it one of the most attractive seats in the neighbour- 
hood. 

LINBY, 

which bears evidence from the monastic ruins still to be found 
of having some centuries ago been a place of religious im- 
portance, probably connected either with the priory of New- 
stead, or the one at Lenton, near Nottingham. A may-pole 
still adorns this "village green ;" and at the north and south 
ends of the village stand two venerable crosses. The one at 
the north end, from its exquisite workmanship and fair pro- 
portions, may be considered as fine a specimen of the village 
cross as can be met with in almost any part of England. The 
neat little church, dedicated to St. Michael (and which con- 
tains some ancient monuments of the Chaworth family) adds 
much to the appearance of this rural spot, of which Washing- 
ton Irving says, " the moss-grown cottages, the lowly mansions 
of grey stone, the gothic crosses at each end of the village, 
and the tall may-pole in the centre, transport us in imagination 
to former centuries." 

Pursuing my walk a mile further, I arrived at 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 35 



HUCKNALL CHURCH, 

which has for ages been the last resting-place of the Byron 
family, and where repose the ashes of the poet, marked only 
by a neat marble slab, bearing the following inscription : — 

" In the vault beneath 

where many of his ancestors and his mother are buried, 

lie the remains of 

George Gordon Noel Byron, 

Lord Byron, of Rochdale, 

in the County of Lancaster, 

the author of ' Childe Harold's Pilgrimage.' 

He was born in London, on the 

22nd of January, 1788 ; 

He died at Missolonghi, in Western Greeee, on the 

19th of April, 1824, 

engaged in the glorious attempt to restore that 

country to her ancient freedom and renown. 

His sister, the Honorable 

Augusta Mary Leigh, 

placed this Tablet to his memory. 

This last home of the poet is much frequented ; and the 
Album kept for visitors bears evidence of the heartfelt emotions 
of many a pilgrim to his tomb. How appropriate, for instance, 
are the following lines, composed by William Howitt, imme- 
diately after the interment : — 

" Rest in thy tomb, young heir of glory, rest ! 

Rest in thy rustic tomb, which thou shalt make 

A spot of light upon thy country's breast, 

Known, honoured, haunted ever for thy sake. 

Thither romantic pilgrims shall betake 

Themselves from distant lands. — When we are still 

In centuries of sleep, thy fame shall wake, 

And thy great memory with deep feelings fill 

These scenes which thou hast trod, and hallow every hill." 

On the 27th of November, 1852, the daughter of the noble 
bard departed this life. At her express wish, her remains 
were deposited along side those of her beloved sire, who had 
so frequently poured forth his fond affection for her in language 
such as Byron alone could give utterance to. 



36 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

" My daughter, with thy name this song began ; 
My daughter, with thy name this much shall end ! 
I see thee not, I hear thee not ; but none 
Can be so wrapt in thee. — Thou art the friend 
To whom the shadows of far years extend. 
My voice shall with thy future visions blend, 
And reach into thy heart when mine is cold — 
A token and a tune even from thy father's mould." 

As is generally known, this accomplished lady married Lord 
King, afterwards created Earl of Lovelace, a connection by 
which, singular enough, the lineage of John Locke became 
blended with that of Byron. 

The funeral took place on Friday, December 3rd, 1852. 
The coffin was covered with rich puce silk velvet, the handles 
and other ornaments being of frosted silver. On the upper 
panel were two raised shields, on one of which was emblazoned 
the family crest, and on the other was engraved the following 
inscription : — 

" The Right Honourable Augusta Ada, 
Wife of William, Earl of Lovelace, 

and only daughter of 
George Gordon Noel Lord Byron, 
born 10th December, 1815, 
died 27th November, 1852." 

During the temporary opening of the vault for this melan- 
choly and, perhaps, last addition to its silent occupants, vast 
numbers of visitors were permitted to take a glance of a spot 
which will be celebrated, long as our language shall endure, as 
containing the ashes of one of the greatest poets 

" That ever graced the tide of time." 

And where, as Edward Hind beautifully says, 

" Within their death- appointed goal, 
The sire and daughter silent lie, 
While seasons over seasons roll, 
And men are born and nations die, 
Beneath the all-embracing sky , 
Thus lowly sink the tomb of fame, 
"While through revolving centuries fly, 
The echoes of his deathless name." 

Turning now homewards, I found I had crowded too much 
into my day's purpose, for still on the way objects of interest 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 37 

rise before the traveller rapidly as if by command of a ma- 
gician's wand. Of these Robin Hood's hills, near Kirkby, 
deserve, from their picturesque appearance, a passing notice. 

Kirkby Hardwick, too, ought not to be forgotten, formerly 
a monastery connected with Newstead abbey, or, peihaps, the 
neighbouring priory of Felley. This ancient mansion was 
bestowed upon George, Earl of Shrewsbury, by King Henry 
the eighth, and is noticed by Leland, who calls it Hardwick- 
upon-Line. It is now the residence of Edmund Hodgkinson, 
Esq., to whose liberality and taste the venerable mansion is 
indebted for many recent improvements. 

Here Cardinal Wolsey, the once powerful favourite of a 
tyrant monarch, passed a night, wearied and heart-broken, 
immediately before his death at Leicester. 

A little nearer Mansfield, and a pleasing view of Sutton Hall 
and Works is obtained, and the beautiful sheet of water, about 
seventy acres, called the King's Mill Reservoir, which was 
made by the late Duke of Portland some twenty years ago, 
as an auxiliary to that extensive system of irrigation, which 
for years occupied his Grace's attention, and of which I shall 
give you further particulars shortly. The waters of this 
reservoir cover the once romantic dingle where stood the 
antique water mill and cottage, which are said to have been 
the scene of the humourous rencontre between King John 
and the redoubtable Sir John Cockle, the Miller of Mansfield, 
and which was dramatized by Dodsley with so much success. 

Near this spot a vase of coins was found, in 1848, by the 
workmen employed in making the railway. 



END OF LETTER IV. 



38 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



LETTEE V. 



HARDWICK HALL. 

" What ! is not this my place of strength," she said ; 

" My spacious mansion, built for me, 
Whereof the strong foundation-stones were laid 

Since my first memory." 

It is hardly to be expected that one neighbourhood can offer 
other scenes so interesting as those associated with Byron's 
" strange eventful history ;" scenes that ever acquire a grow- 
ing charm as the lapse of years softens the errors of the man, 
and confirms the genius of the poet. It is time indeed that 
his enemies were content to say, "after life's fitful fever, he 
sleeps well," and no more with narrow criticism try to bare 
the abysmal deeps of his great personality. 

Leaving, then, abbey and poet, with all their recollections, 
accompany me to hall and park and castle, 

" Ancient homes of lord and lady, 
Built for pleasure and for state." 

And first upon the list is the noble building with the title of 
which I have headed this letter. 

Hardwick Hall is little more than six miles to the north- 
west of Mansfield, and one of the seats of that princely noble, 
the Duke of Devonshire. 

It is a substantial stone building, in pure Elizabethan style, 
and stands upon elevated table land, near the eastern borders 
of the county, from whence there is a fine view of the long 
chain of romantic hills bordering upon the Peak of Derbyshire. 
The park, with its herds of deer, numerous fish ponds, stately 
oaks, and richly-wooded scenery, presents many attractive 
features. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 39 

The present hall was built by the celebrated Countess of 
Shrewsbury, and was finished in the year 1587. It is of an 
oblong form, studded with antique windows, and having six 
square towers of commanding proportions, rising at intervals, 
sternly, but with great majesty, above the rest of the building, 
which is ornamented with neatly-carved open-work battlements, 
adorned here and there with the noble lady's initials, "E. S.," 
surmounted by a coronet. The principal front is about 390 
feet in extent. A spacious quadrangular court — now con- 
verted into a formal flower garden — surrounds this entrance, 
and gives an excellent effect to the approach. The walled 
yard or paddock near, with its really magnificent range of 
stables, will excite the admiration of visitors ; for they give 
a most exalted idea of the state of hospitality which could 
require offices so extensive. Gay and busy and exciting 
scenes must they have been which these court yards were wont 
to witness in the profuse and hospitable times of the extra- 
ordinary woman by whose liberality they were erected. 

A short distance from the entrance stand the noble ruins 
of what is termed the "old hall/ 5 only upheld from yielding 
to the first winter's blast by most gigantic and luxuriant ivy, 
which clings with the vigour and affection of oft renewed 
youth to the smitten remnants of her dismantled turrets, and 
where — 

" Few ages since, and wild echoes awoke 
In thy sweeping dome and panelling oak ; 
Thy seats were filled with a princely band, 
Rulers of men and lords of the land ; 
Loudly they raved and gaily they laugh' d, 
O'er the golden chalice and sparkling draught, 
And the glittering board and gem studded plume, 
Proclaim'd thee a monarch's revelling room." 

I find no satisfactory account of the time when this venera- 
ble mansion was built, but certain it is, that it was a place of 
great beauty and importance during the reign of Henry the 
eighth ; and it was here that John Hardwicke died, in the 1 9th 
year of that burly monarch's reign. 

In 1203, King John transferred the Hardwick estate to 
Andrew Beauchamp, and it passed in 1258 to William de 
Steynesby, who held it by the annual surrender of three 
pounds of cinnamon and one of pepper ! John de Steynesby, 



40 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

grandson of the above, died possessed of it in 1330. Soon 
afterwards the family of de Hardwicke were established here, 
and possessed the estate for six generations. 

One majestic room is now all that remains (except the outer 
and lower walls) of that once beautiful residence, the old hall. 
It measures sixty feet six inches, by thirty feet six inches, 
and is twenty-four feet six inches high, and has long been 
considered a model of most elegant proportions ; indeed, to 
use the words of an old writer, "the old house has one room 
in it of such exact proportions, and such convenient lights, 
that it was thought fit for a pattern of measure and con- 
trivance to the most noble at Blenheim/' This room, which 
is called the " Giant's Chamber," from two colossal figures 
standing there, still bears evidence of having been finished 
in a superb style. In the north-east end was a large library, 
containing a pair of globes, then very valuable. 

This part of the brave old mansion was pulled down when 
the grand stables at Chatsworth were built. 

The noble stable court, — perhaps few its equal,— the ex- 
tensive park, that portion of the present park which lies to 
the west and south of the house, with its fish-ponds, paddocks, 
&c, all evince that the father of the Countess, John Hard- 
wicke, Esq., enjoyed a plentiful estate, and its convenient 
accompaniments . 

Dr. White Kennet, in speaking of this residence says, " the 
old hall is where the Countess was born. Before part of it 
was demolished, it was a large house, and contained, perhaps, 
thirty rooms capable to be made lodging rooms, besides lower 
rooms for business." " It was built at three different times ; 
the middle part is the oldest, the west or south-west end the 
second built, the north-east end the third building." 

As the name of the Countess of Shrewsbury is so intimately 
connected with the history of this district, it may not, 
perhaps, be out of place to give a brief memoir of her life, 
so here it is. 

Elizabeth, the celebrated Countess of Shrewsbury, was, as 
previously stated, the daughter of John Hardwicke, Esq., and 
of Elizabeth, the daughter of Thomas Leake, Esq., of Has- 
land, in the county of Derby. She was born in the year 
1521 ; and when scarcely fourteen years of age, she married 
Robert Barley, Esq., of Barley, in the county of Derby, a 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 41 

young gentleman of large estates, all of which he settled 
absolutely upon his young wife, and therefore by his death, 
which happened shortly afterwards, without issue, she came 
into possession of a valuable addition to her ancestral pro- 
perty. 

After remaining a widow about twelve years, she married Sir 
William Cavendish, by whom she had issue as follows, viz. : — 

Henry Cavendish, Esq., who settled at Tutbury, Stafford- 
shire. 

William Cavendish the first Earl of Devonshire. 

Charles Cavendish, settled at Welbeck Abbey, and the 
father of William Baron Ogle, and Duke of Newcastle. 

Frances, who married Sir Henry Pierrepont, of Holme 
Pierrepont, near Nottingham, from whom descended the Dukes 
of Kingston and Earl Man vers. 

Elizabeth, who espoused Charles Stuart, Earl of Lenox, 
youngest brother to King James the first's father. Queen 
Elizabeth was so exasperated at this marriage,* that in the 
extremity of her wrath and indignation she committed both 
the Countess of Shrewsbury and the Dowager Lady Lenox 
to the tower ! Through the interest of the Earl of Shrews- 
bury the Countess was liberated after a few months ; and 
shortly after the young Lady Lenox, her daughter, whilst yet 
in all her bridal bloom, died in the arms of her mother. 

Mary, who married Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury. 

After the death of Sir William Cavendish, her ladyship 
again continued in widowhood for some time, but at length 
married Sir William St. Loo, captain of the guard to Queen 
Elizabeth, and who had a large estate in Gloucestershire, 
which, in the articles of marriage, were settled on her ladyship 
and heirs, in default of issue by Sir William ; and accordingly, 
having no child by him, she lived to enjoy his whole estate, 
to the exclusion, not only of his brothers, who were heirs 
male, but also of his own daughters by a former wife ! 

During this her third widowhood, the charms of her wit 
and beauty captivated the then greatest subject of the realm, 
George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, whom she brought to 

*The issue of this marriage was the beautiful and accomplished Lady 
Arabella Stuart, who was educated at Hardwick, under the care of the 
Countess, her grandmother, and whose affecting and melancholy history is 
second only to that of her kinswoman, Mary Queen of Scots. 



42 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

terms of the greatest honour and advantage to herself, as well 
as to her children ; for he not only yielded to a considerable 
jointure, but also to a union of families, by taking her youngest 
daughter, Mary, to be the wife of Gilbert, his second son, and 
afterwards heir ; and also giving the Lady Grace, his youngest 
daughter, to Henry, her eldest son. 

On November 18th, 1590, she was a fourth time left, and 
until her death continued a widow. 

There were changes of condition in the life of this lady 
that, perhaps, never fell to the lot of any other woman. To be 
four times a wife — to rise by every husband into greater wealth 
and higher honours — to have a numerous issue by one husband 
only— to have all those children live, and all, by her advice, 
be creditably disposed of by marriage in her lifetime — and 
after all to live seventeen years a widow, in absolute power and 
plenty ;* and in addition to all this, to have been, as it were, the 
founder of several of the most noble houses which now adorn 
the peerage, as well as the grandmother of a princess of the 
blood royal, are certainly circumstances which seem to par- 
take more of the character of fiction than that of sober 
reality. 

She had also the honour to be keeper to Mary, Queen of 
Scots, for many years ; and it seems probable she frequently 
brought her royal charge to Hardwick during that period. 

She died, full of years, honours, and worldly comforts, on 
the 13th of February, 1607, and was buried in the south aisle 
of All Saints' church, in Derby, (where she had founded a 
hospital for twelve poor persons), under a costly tomb which 
she took care to erect in her own lifetime. 

The Countess is seen, arrayed in the habit of her time, with 
her head reclining on a cushion, and her hands placed in the 
attitude of prayer. Underneath is an inscription in Latin, of 
which the following is a translation : — 

" To the memory of Elizabeth, the daughter of John Hardwicke, of Hard- 
wicke, in the county of Derby, Esq., and at length co-heiress to her brother 
John. She was married first to Robert Barley, of Barley, in the said county 
of Derby, Esq. ; afterwards to William Cavendish, of Chatsworth, Knt., 
Treasurer of the Chamber to the Kings Henry 8th and Edward 6th, and 
Queen Mary, to whom he was also a Privy Councillor. She then became 

*Her income for some years before her death, amounted to £60,000 per 
annum, a sum equal to at least £200,000 of the present day ! 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 43 

the wife of Sir William St. Loo, Captain of the Guard to Queen Elizabeth. 
Her last husband was the most noble George, Earl of Shrewsbury. 

" By Sir William Cavendish alone she had issue. This was three sons : 
viz., Henry Cavendish, of Tutbury, in the county of Stafford, Esq., who 
took to wife Grace, the daughter of the said 'George, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
but died without legitimate issue ; William, created Baron Cavendish, of 
Hardwicke, and Earl of Devonshire, by his late Majesty King James ; and 
Charles Cavendish, of Welbeck, Knt., father of the most honourable William 
Cavendish, on account of his great merit created Knight of the Bath, Baron 
Ogle, by right of his mother, and Viscount Mansfield, Earl, Marquis, and 
Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and Earl Ogle, of Ogle. 

" She had also an equal number cjf daughters : viz., Frances, married to 
Sir Henry Pierrepont ; Elizabeth, to Charles Stuart, Earl of Lenox ; and 
Mary, to Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury. 

"This very celebrated Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury, built the 
houses of Chatsworth, Hardwicke, and Oldcotes, highly distinguished by 
their magnificence ; and finished her transitory life on the thirteenth day of 
February, in the year 1607, and about the 87th year of her age ; and 
expecting a glorious resurrection, lies interred underneath." 

Most of this lady's biographers agree that she was of noble 
and commanding appearance — beautiful, accomplished, dis- 
creet, and talented, although, perhaps, towards the latter part 
of her life, rather inclined to be arrogant and despotic, hence 
her union with the Earl of Shrewsbury, (who, by the bye, was 
not all perfection himself), proved anything but a happy one. 
To her credit, however, be it said, that in their disputes, 
which ended in a separation, both Queen Elizabeth and Over- 
ton, Bishop of Lichfield, very warmly took the lady's part. 
After a careful examination of the character of this extraor- 
dinary woman, I am driven to the conclusion that she was 
more " sinned against than sinning ;" and there are certainly 
no events connected with her life which could, in my opinion, 
justify any writer in speaking of her with such severity as 
does one of her own sex,* who says, " His," the Earl of 
Shrewsbury's, "proud and cruel wife, whose temper could not 
be restrained by any power either on earth or in heaven, soon 
became jealous of the lovely and fascinating prisoner and led 
her husband, a noble of exemplary gravity, and a grandsire, 
a terrible life !" 

In addition to her other extraordinary propensities, the 
Countess was undoubtedly afflicted with what in modern times 
is not inaptly termed a u building mania," and she had the 

*Miss Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England, vol. 7. 



44 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST- 

honour of building three of the most splendid seats that were, 
perhaps, ever raised by one person in the same county, viz., 
Hardwick Hall, of which I am now speaking, Oldcotes, near 
Chesterfield, now in ruins, and that prince of mansions, and 
gem of the Peak, Chatsworth. To assist in the erection, or 
rather re-building of this latter noble edifice, she caused a 
great quantity of the materials to be removed from the old 
hall of Hardwick, which circumstance may partly account for 
the extremely ruinous state of that ancient building. 

To account for this lady's rage for building, there is a 
tradition — recorded by Walpole — that she was told by a 
fortune-teller that her death should not happen while she con- 
tinued building ; and accordingly she expended immense sums 
of money in so doing ; and singular enough, she died in a 
hard frost, when the workmen could not proceed with building 
operations ! 

Thus much for the history of Hardwick' s noble founder, 
for the leading facts of which I am indebted to a copious 
memoir of the Cavendish family, written by the learned Dr. 
Kennet, once chaplain in the family, and afterwards Bishop 
of Peterborough. 

Probably the greatest interest which attaches to Hardwick 
in the present day, arises from the fact of its having been 
one of the " houses of detention" of Mary, Queen of Scots ; 
nor is it surprising that this circumstance should be its great 
charm and attraction, or that she should be, as it were, the 
tutelary genius of the place, ; for since her sad career upon 
earth closed, Chatsworth has been burned and re-built ; Tut- 
bury and Sheffield castles, Wingfield Manor, Fortheringay — 
in short, every place almost, w r hich Mary inhabited during her 
captivity, all lie in ruins, as if struck with a doleful curse, 
but Hardwick still retains its grandeur ; in addition to which, 
the bed and furniture which she used, the cushions of her 
oratory, and the tapestry she wrought in her sad confinement, 
are still preserved ; and still may we look from the same lone 
window from which she gazed, with many a sigh and tear, 
over the far distant hills. 

The poet Gray visited Hardwick, and in one of his letters 
to Dr. Wharton thus touchingly alludes to this subject : — 

" Of all the places I have seen since my return from you 
Hardwick pleases me most, One would think that Mary, 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 45 

Queen of Scots, had but just walked down into the park with 
her guard for half-an-hour. Her gallery, her room of audience, 
her antechamber with the very canopies, chair of state, foot- 
stool, lit de repos, oratory, carpets, hangings just as she left 
them ! a little tattered indeed, but the more venerable !" 

Horace Walpole too, visited Hardwick, but he, strange to 
say, declares that he "was never less charmed in his life." 
"The house," says he, "is not Gothkv but of that betweenity 
that intervened when Gothic declined and Palladian was creep- 
ing in — rather this is totally naked of either. It has vast 
chambers, aye, vast — such as the nobility of that time delighted 
in, and did not know how to furnish. There is a fine bank 
of old oaks in the park over a lake, nothing else pleased me /" 

In this spirit he thus describes the state room or presence 
chamber : — 

"The great apartment is exactly what it was when the 
Queen of Scots was kept there. Her council chamber, (the 
council chamber of a poor woman who had only two secre- 
taries, a gentleman usher f an apothecary, a confessor, and 
three maids !) is so outrageously spacious that you would take 
it for King David's, who thought, contrary to all modern 
experience, that in the multitude of counsellors there is 
wisdom. At the upper end is the state chair, with a long 
table covered with sumptuous cloth, embroidered and em- 
bossed with gold — at least what was gold ; so are all the 
tables. Round the top of the chamber runs a monstrous 
frieze, ten or twelve feet deep, representing a stag hunt, in 
miserable plastered relief." 

How very different is the description of the same room 
given — not by one whose time and thoughts had been occupied 
by periods of history, " big with events," but by the talented 
anthoress of the " Characteristics of Women." Her elegant 
pen thus truthfully "hits off" the aforesaid room : — 

"In the council chamber (described by Walpole) rich 
tapestry, representing the story of Ulysses, runs round the 
room to the height of fifteen or sixteen feet, and above it the 
stag hunt in ugly relief. On one side of this room there is 
a spacious recess, at least eighteen or twenty feet square ; 
and across this, from side to side, to divide it from the body 
of the room, was suspended a magnificent piece of tapestry, 
(real Gobelin's), of the time of Louis Quatorze, still fresh and 



46 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

even vivid in tint, which, from its weight, hung in immense 
wavy folds ; above it we could just discern the canopy of a 
lofty state bed, with nodding ostrich plumes, which had been 
placed there out of the way. The effect of the whole, as I 
have seen it, when the red western light streamed through 
the enormous windows, was in its shadowy beauty and depth 
of colour that of a c realized Rembrandt/ if, indeed, Rembrandt 
ever painted anything at once so elegant, so fanciful, so gor- 
geous, and so gloomy." 

At the risk of being tedious, I cannot resist the pleasure of 
quoting you a few more short extracts from the same pen. 
Speaking of the portrait of Lady Arabella Stuart, she says — 

" One of the first pictures which caught my attention when 
I entered the gallery was a small head of Arabella Stuart 
when an infant. The painting is poor enough ; it is a little 
round rosy face in a child's cap, and she holds an embroidered 
doll in her hands. Who could look on this picture and not 
glance forward through succeeding years and see the pretty 
playful infant transformed into the impassioned woman, 
writing to her husband — c In sickness and in despair, where- 
soever thou art, or howsoever I be, it sufficeth me always 
that thou art mine !' Arabella Stuart was not clever, but not 
Heloise, nor Corinne, nor Madlle. De' 1' Espinasse ever 
penned such a dear little morsel of touching eloquence, — so 
full of all a woman's tenderness !" 

Of Mary Queen of Scots' portrait when young, Mrs. Jame- 
son says, " This portrait of poor Mary is a full length, in 
mourning habit, with a white cap (of her own peculiar 
fashion) and a veil of white gauze. This, I believe, is the 
celebrated picture so often copied and engraved . It is dated 
1578, the thirty-sixth of her age, and the tenth of her cap- 
tivity. The figure is elegant and the face pensive and sweet, 
and was painted by Richard Stevens, of whom there is some 
account in Walpole's ' Anecdotes of Painters.' " 

Who that has visited the picture gallery of Hardwick can 
read the following lines from the same writer, without being 
struck with their truthfulness ? 

" How often have I walked up and down this noble gallery 
lost in c commiserating reveries' on the vicissitudes of departed 
grandeur ! — on the nothingness of all that life could give ! — on 
the fate of youthful beauties, who lived to be broken-hearted, 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 47 

grow old, and die ! — on heroes who once walked the earth in 
the blaze of their fame, now gone to dust, and in endless 
darkness ! — on bright faces, petries de lis et de roses, since 
time-wrinkled ! — on noble forms, since mangled in the battle- 
field ! — on high-born heads that fell beneath the axe of the 
executioner! — O ye starred and ribboned! ye jewelled and 
embroidered ! ye wise, rich, great, noble, brave, and beautiful, 
of all your loves and smiles, your graces and excellencies, 
your deeds and honours — does, then, a ' painted board circum- 
scribe all V " 

Leaving the romantic foreground and interesting ruins of 
the ancient building, 

" Where now the spider is weaving his woof, 
Making his loom of the sculptured roof ; 
Where weeds have gathered and moss hath grown, 
On the topmost ridge and lowest stone." 

I will proceed to give you as accurate a description as I possibly 
can of the interior attractions of the present hall. 

Passing through a narrow gateway, you approach the west 
front along a wide flagged pavement, and are admitted into the 

Entrance or Great Hall, which is of great magnitude, 
and fitted up with oak wainscoting and tapestry, in admirable 
keeping with the rest of the internal furnishing and decora- 
tions, which, as a whole, is said to be the most faithful illus- 
tration of the domestic habits of the days of Elizabeth that 
any building in England affords. 

This apartment contains a bust of Mary Queen of Scots, by 
Westmacott. On a pedestal, bearing an armorial escutcheon, 
is the following brief inscription : — 

Maria Regina Scotorum 

Nata 1542, 

A suis in exilium acta, 1568, 

Ab hospita neci data, 1587. 

Along the west end of the hall runs the Minstrel gallery, 
supported by four pillars, and forming a sort of vestibule to the 
entrance. 

Leaving the hall, we ascend by the north staircase into 

The Chapel, hung with tapestry, representing some of the 



48 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

leading incidents connected w.ii the life of Saint Paul, in- 
cluding his conversion and shipwreck. The chairs and 
cushions, &c, contain some rich and costly specimens of 
antique needlework, and as such are interesting and deserving 
of attention. 

The Dining Hall is fitted up with small panels of dark oak 
wainscoting, Over the chimney-piece is the following motto : 

" The conclusion of all thinges, is to feare God and keepe his commaund- 
mentes." 

Underneath are the initials E. S., surmounted by a coronet 
and the date, 1597. 

There are several portraits in this room, including the first 
Duke of Devonshire ; Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire ; 
Horatio, first Lord Walpole ; the Right Honorable Henry 
Pelham, and the Earl of Southampton, Lord Treasurer to 
Charles the second. 

A door on the north side of this room opens into 

The Cut Velvet Bed Room, which was formerly hung with 
ancient silk drapery, richly embossed with emblematical figures, 
in gold and silver lace and thread ; but is now hung with 
tapestry, in good preservation, pourtraying Flemish subjects. 
Over the doors are specimens of the old needlework, decently 
restored. 

The arms of Cavendish, Shrewsbury, and Hardwick are 
emblazoned over the chimney-piece. 

Returning through the dining room, and proceeding along 
the gallery before alluded to, and from which there is a com- 
manding view of the entrance hall, you enter 

The Drawing Boom, which is also wainscoted in beautiful 
dark oak panels for a considerable height, above which is 
some fine tapestry, representing the story of Esther and 
King Ahasuerus. 

In this room are several portraits, including Sir William 
Cavendish, taken in his 42nd year, and considered fine, 
Charles James Fox, and Countess Spencer, mother of Geor- 
giana, Duchess of Devonshire. Over the chimney-piece are 
the Hardwick arms, surmounted by a coronet, and supported 
by two stags, underneath is the following distitch : — 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 49 

" Sanguine, cornu, corde, oculo, pede, cervus et aure. 
Nobilis at claro ; pondere nobilior." 

By the south door of this room you enter 

The Duke's Bed Boom, which is hung with splendid tapestry, 
representing Abraham and the angels, Isaac and Rebecca, and 
other scriptural subjects. 

A Dressing Boom adjoins, looking south, in which are some 
interesting specimens of the Countess of Shrewsbury's needle- 
work. 

Returning through the drawing room, you reach the 

Grand Staircase, the walls of which contain some splendid 
specimens of tapestry, on which may readily be traced the 
story of Hero and Leander. 

There is a curious ancient chest near the drawing room 
door, supposed to have belonged to George Talbot, Earl of 
Shrewsbury. 

On arriving at the top of the staircase, a fine old door 
(surmounted by the Hardwick arms) presents itself, and which 
enters into the 

State Boom or Presence Chamber, a noble room, sixty-five 
feet long, thirty-three feet wide, and twenty-six feet high. 
The walls to the height of fifteen feet are adorned with rich 
tapestry, representing the chief events of the Odyssey. 

Above the tapestry, there is a basso relievo representation 
of a stag hunt, and the court of Diana. The arms of England 
are over the fire-place. 

The furniture in this room is extremely rich, and chiefly 
of the time of James the second, together with some curious 
old chairs and stools recently restored. 

At the north end of the room is a canopy of embroidered 
black velvet, with chair and foot-stool to match, the inside 
being ornamented by the Hardwick arms, quartered with the 
Bruces' of Elgin. In front of the canopy stands a long table 
of Queen Elizabeth's time, beautifully inlaid. 

In a spacious recess stands the state bed, with rich crimson 
velvet canopy, and noble ostrich plumes. The curtains are 
of crimson velvet and elaborately covered with gold and silver 
tissue, and there are also carved chairs and stools covered with 



50 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

the same material, to match. The whole is in a good state 
of preservation. We next come to the 

Library, the walls and doorways of which are hung with 
tapestry. From the windows of this room a splendid prospect 
may be obtained. 

The library contains a considerable number of curious and 
valuable works, and the walls are graced with several paintings, 
including the celebrated Countess of Shrewsbury herself. A 
fine portrait of the fourth Duchess of Devonshire on horse- 
back. (The horse was painted by Van Bloom an, the land- 
scape by Horizonte, and the portrait by Kent, in 1747.) The 
first Duke of Devonshire when a youth, and Jeffery Hudson, 
the celebrated dwarf, (painted by Vandyck) . From this to the 

Green Room, the walls of which are now hung with beau- 
tiful silk tapestry. The library and green room were originally 
the same height as the presence chamber. 

You next enter the interesting room known as 

Mary Queen of Scots 9 Room, which is somewhat small, 
situate in one of the square towers. The principal object of 
attention in this room is the Queen's bed, which, being hung 
with black velvet, has rather a gloomy, but not unpleasing, 
appearance. The hangings are richly embroidered with flowers 
in coloured silk, by the hands of the royal prisoner and her 
attendants. 

Over the door are the royal arms of Scotland, with the 
initials " M. R.," and round the whole is the inscription : — 

" Marie Stewart, par le grace de Dieu, Royne de Scosse, Douariere de 
France." 

Crest — a lion. Motto — " In my Defens." 

The Blue Room, amongst other attractions, contains a 
representation of the marriage of Tobias, placed over the 
mantel-piece. 

The next and perhaps most attractive room is 

The Picture Gallery, which extends the whole length of 
the eastern front, measuring 166 feet in length, forty-one feet 
in width, (including the window recesses), and twenty-six 
feet high. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 51 

Some very ancient tapestry (removed from trie old halls at 
Chatsworth and Hardwick) may be seen in this noble apart- 
ment, part of it bearing date so long since as 1478. 

The windows in this gallery, although no larger than the 
others on the same story, are of most enormous proportions, 
and are altogether computed to contain 27,000 panes of glass. 
Hence no doubt the origin of the saying — 

"Hardwick Hall, 
More glass than wall." 

There are two splendid chimney-pieces here, composed of 
black marble and alabaster, one surmounted by a piece of 
sculpture, representing " Pity ;" the other a companion-piece, 
representing " Justice." They are supposed to be the work 
of either Stephens, a Flemish sculptor, or Valerio Vicentino, 
an Italian artist. 

The immense number of paintings hanging in this room 
consist chiefly of family portraits, a catalogue of which would 
far exceed my limits. The following will, however, be proba- 
bly found the most interesting, viz. : — 

Queen Elizabeth ; the Countess of Shrewsbury ; the beau- 
tiful Arabella Stuart; Henry the seventh and Henry the 
eight ; (cartoon, by Holbein) ; Mary Queen of Scots when 
young ; William, first Duke of Devonshire ; the same on 
horseback ; Lord William Russell ; Georgiana, Duchess of 
Devonshire; third Earl of Burlington; Robert Boyle, * the 
philosopher ; Thomas Hobbes ; seventh Earl of Derby ; Lord 
Treasurer Burleigh. 

Hardwick was for many years the abode of the semi-infidel 
philosopher, Hobbes, usually known as " Hobbes of Malmes- 
bury," author of " The Leviathan," "DeCive," "De Corpore 
Politico," &c. ; who having in early life been tutor in the 
Cavendish family, found here an asylum in his declining years ; 
and here, also, after being more or less domesticated with 
the family for nearly seventy years, this eccentric man, 
who, with all his philosophy, would never allow himself to be 
left in the dark, died, or as he himself termed it, " crept out 
of the world," at the advanced age of ninety-one years. 

*He died of grief for the loss of his sister, Lady Kanelagh, the celebrated 
object of Milton's tender regard, at all events, of his enthusiastic admiration. 



52 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST- 

There is a curious portrait of Hobbes in the picture gallery. 
It is striking from the evident truthfulness of the expression, 
uniting as it does the last lingering gleam of thought with the 
withered and almost ghastly decrepitude of extreme age. It 
was taken only a short time before his death, and has been 
engraved by Hollar. 

Hobbes once said to a notorious "bookworm," " If I had 
read as many volumes as you have ? I should be as ignorant 
as you are !" 

He was buried at the little church of 

AULT - HUCKNALL, 

close by, an edifice which is supposed to have been one of the 
ancient stone churches built by the Saxons, and in which there 
is even now much to interest the antiquarian, 

The leading style of the structure is Saxon, of which there 
are many parts still remaining. The peculiar position of the 
tower is indicative of this. One of the Saxon windows re- 
mains at the west end of the north aisle, and the original 
west doorway, though now blocked up, still remains, and a most 
interesting and curious example of very early sculpture it is, 
having a square head, with sculptured tympanum, surmounted 
by a semi-circular arch. The lower sculpture is probably a 
representation of St. George slaying the Dragon ; but it is 
difficult to guess even at the meaning of the panel within the 
arch. 

The picina, in the south wall of the church, is of elegant 
design, and has some well-executed first-pointed detail. Near 
to it, and under the arch in the south chancel wall, lies an 
ancient altar slab, marked with the usual crosses. 

Under the east window of the chantry chapel, stands a 
monument to one of the Cavendishes, dated 1626. The small 
statues ranged along the top in front are marble, and remark- 
ably well sculptured. The window over this tomb contains 
small portions of its ancient painted glass, and appears from 
the kneeling figures to have been a memorial window. 

The living of Ault-Hucknall formerly belonged to the priory 
of Newstead. 

Leaving, however, this venerable church, the stately park, 
and the grand old hall, with all its associations, I passed 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 53 

through a richly-wooded and well-cultivated country to the 
lofty and frowning turrets of 

BOLSOVER CASTLE, 

distant, perhaps, three miles from Hardwick, another ancient 
seat of the princely Cavendishes, now the property of the 
Duke of Portland, and occupied by the Rev. J. Hamilton 
Gray and his talented lady, the authoress of the " History of 
Etruria," " History of Rome," History of the Roman Em- 
perors," and "A Tour to the Sepulchres of Etruria," who 
have in their elegant apartments arranged the magnificent 
series of Etruscan and other antiquities which they have 
collected, as also a large display of ancient carved furniture. 

The town of Bolsover, which is about eight miles from 
Mansfield, is a quiet ancient-looking place, and was at one 
time of sufficient importance to rank as a market town. It is 
spoken of as such so early as 1225. The market was held 
on Friday; but was discontinued about the middle of the 
seventeenth century. 

The manor is copyhold, of a similar tenure to that of 
Mansfield, His Grace the Duke of Portland being the present 
lord. 

King John in the second year of his reign caused the park of 
Bolsover to be enclosed, under the direction of Hugh Bardolph, 
of Stoke, whose account, amounting to <£30, was deemed so 
excessive that it was referred to Galfred Lutterell and William 
Fitzwakellin to oversee and audit. 

The " Bolsover buckles," which were held in so much 
repute by our grandfathers, were formerly made here in great 
quantities. Their celebrity arose from a peculiar process of 
case-hardening, which not only enabled the manufacturer to 
impart a most brilliant polish, but also rendered them of so 
exceedingly good temper, that it was said a loaded cart might 
pass over a Bolsover buckle without injuring its shape. 

The church is a plain Norman structure, with a tower and 
low spire, and is dedicated to St. Mary, the present value 
of the living being about ^£130 per annum. 

Amongst the monuments in the Cavendish chapel is one to 
Sir Charles and Lady Cavendish, very highly decorated. In the 
church are other monuments of the Cavendish family, and one 



54 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

of the Duke of Newcastle, consisting of four pillars supporting a 
massive pediment ornamented with figures and various devices. 
It is composed of different coloured marbles, and is one of the 
most magnificent in the provinces. The late Duke of Port- 
land, father of Lord George Bentinck, is also buried here. 

On approaching the town from the Glapwell road, the most 
glorious scenery lay extended before me, as all at once I found 
myself on the very ridge of a range of hills which fell some- 
what precipitately from where I stood and formed with a cor- 
responding range rising in the distance a long sweeping valley, 
of the greatest extent, variety, and beauty. To the extreme 
left the noble woods and lofty turrets of the hall I had just 
visited rose in grandeur. The village of Heath, with Sutton 
Hall, the seat of one of the Arkwrights, formed a pleasing 
front ; and with the vast iron districts of Staveley and Reni- 
shaw on the right, completed a magnificent panorama ; the 
noble hills of the Peak and the Yorkshire moors extending 
themselves as a misty-shaded back ground along the distant 
horizon. The varied and glowing tints of a rich autumnal 
foliage, although somewhat sad precursors of approaching 
winter, added greatly to the beauty of the charming landscape. 

On nearer acquaintance, the town bears evident traces of 
having been at some period of its history strongly fortified. 
I found the castle all I ha,d been led to expect. 

" A mighty maze, but not without a plan." 

There is no doubt that William de Peverell (to whom the 
manor was granted by his father, William the Conqueror) built 
a castle at Bolsover ; and there is still a road called the 
" Peverell Road," leading in the direction of South Wingfield, 
where he possessed a manor house. The ancient castle formed 
one of the strongholds of the disaffected barons during part 
of the troublesome reign of King John ; but it was at length 
(1215) reduced by Ferrars, Earl of Derby, who was after- 
wards appointed its governor. 

In 1552, Edward the sixth granted a lease of the manor to 
Sir John Byron, and two years afterwards granted the same 
in fee to the Talbots, by whom it was leased, in 1608, to Sir 
Charles Cavendish for 1000 years, at a rent of ^10 per 
annum ; and in 1613 he bought the manor, the purchase deed 
being enrolled in chancery on the 20th of August of that year. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 55 

At that time the castle was in ruins, but there was even 
then too much mettle in the Cavendish blood to allow it to 
continue so, consequently the same year Sir Charles commenced 
the erection of the present mansion, under the superintendance 
of Huntingdon Smith son, who was sent to Italy by the munifi- 
cent owner expressly to collect materials for his designs. This 
celebrated architect died at Bolsover in 1648, and was buried 
in the chancel of the church. 

A great portion of the buildings then erected are now in 
ruins ; but there is nothing particularly picturesque in their 
appearance, which partakes more of the effect produced by 
having been dismantled by careful workmen than of succumb- 
ing to the ravages of time, the massive grey walls being still 
as firm and free from decay as can well be imagined. 

Some idea may be formed of the style and magnitude of 
this splendid range of buildings from the fact that one gallery 
now standing measures 220 feet in length, by twenty-eight 
feet in width. The dining room was seventy-eight feet by 
thirty-three feet, and a lodging room thirty-six feet by thirty- 
three feet ; the out-buildings are in proportion, the whole 
range measuring 276 feet from the east corner of the house. 

It was in these noble rooms that William, the right loyal 
and princely Earl of Newcastle (1634) entertained King 
Charles I. and his court on a scale of magnificence seldom, 
if ever, equalled in the annals of baronial liberality ; in fact, 
according to the Duchess of Newcastle's memoirs of her 
husband, the first cost him no less a sum than ^64,000, the 
second 5615,000, and the third, a slight affair, ,£1,500. On 
this occasion Ben Jonson wrote several masques, and was em- 
ployed as a sort of master of the ceremonies to prepare the 
speeches and scenes ; and Welbeck Abbey was set apart for 
their majesties' lodgings. 

The first entertainment was described by Lord Clarendon 
as " such an excess of feasting as had scarce ever been known 
in England before, and would be still thought very prodigious 
if the same noble person had not within a year or so after- 
wards, made the king and queen a more stupendous enter- 
tainment, which, God be thanked, though possibly it might 
too much whet the appetite of others to excess, no man after 
those days imitated/ 5 

Having alluded to the munificence of the first Earl of New- 



56 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

castle, it may be interesting to mention the extent of his 
resources, and the generous sacrifices he made in support of 
his royal master's cause. 

From the memoirs of the duchess, it appears that in the 
year 1649, when the king found it necessary to raise an army 
to subdue the disaffected Scotch, the Earl of Newcastle, find- 
ing his majesty's exchequer exhausted, generously lent his 
majesty ^£ 10,000, and raised a troop of horse, consisting of 
one hundred and twenty gentlemen, (which was afterwards 
called the %c Prince of Wales' Troop"), all well equipped, and 
each attended by his own servant, without charge to the king. 

His lordship also fortified and garrisoned the town of New- 
castle, Bolsover castle, and other places at his own expense, 
and gained many advantages over the parliamentary forces. 

By a survey made of his estates in 1641, he possessed a 
rent roll of ^€22,393 9s. 3d., a prodigious [income for those days. 

After the murder of the king, these splendid estates were 
placed by the parliament under a sequestration, the earl him- 
self having fled to Antwerp, where he chiefly resided until 
his return to England at the restoration. 

The duchess computes her husband's losses consequent 
upon those unhappy and disgraceful struggles at no less than 
j694 1,303, for which she thus accounts : — 
The loss of his estates during the civil war and "I /? 4 qo nno 

his banishment, amounted with interest to. . . . J 
Estates actually lost, producing an annual income \ j^ao^ 990 

of ^5,229, she estimate at., J * 4 «*'>^ u 

Sold for payment of his debts 5656,000 

Value of his woods which were cut down ^645,000 

Grand total ^941,303 

What a melancholy picture does this statement present of 
the troubles and adversities which then so heavily oppressed 
our land ; and how fervent ought our aspirations to be for 
deliverance "from all sedition, privy conspiracy and rebellion." 
Although Bolsover castle was strongly fortified, and well 
provided for by the Earl of Newcastle, it could not withstand 
the overpowering influence, openly and covertly, of the vic- 
torious Puritans, and it surrendered upon honorable terms to 
Major General Crawford, in 1644. From the account of its 
capture it appears to have been well manned, strongly fortified 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 57 

with great guns, " one whereof carried eighteen pound bullets." 
aud was well stored with ammunition and provisions. One 
hundred and twenty muskets, two mortars, nine barrels of 
powder, besides pikes, halberts, drakes, matches, &c, fell into 
the hands of the victors, who bestowed great pains in demolish- 
ing this splendid edifice, in order as well to enrich themselves 
as to show their spleen against the noble and loyal owner. 

After the restoration some feeble attempts were made by 
the Earl, by this time created the Duke, of Newcastle, to 
repair the injuries the fabric had sustained; but with a 
shattered fortune and advancing years, a total restoiation was 
not attempted. Enough was accomplished, however, to enable 
various branches of the family to reside there ; but as this 
took place during a time in which is little worthy of record, 
it is sufficient to mention that this and several other estates, 
including Mansfield and Welbeck, descended from that noble 
branch of the Cavendishes through those of Holies and Harley 
to the present owner and lord of the manor, His Grace the 
Duke of Portland. 

As before stated, the only part of the castle now occupied 
is the residence of the Rev. J. H. Gray, and is not shown to 
casual visitors when the family is at home. With the ex- 
ception of what is termed the " star chamber," there is little, 
perhaps, beyond the glorious prospects from the windows to 
interest the visitor. 

The gardens belonging to the castle are pretty, though 
small, and are graced with a classically designed fountain of 
elaborate work, ornamented with the busts in alabaster of eight 
of the Roman emperors, and a statue of Venus in the act 
of getting out of a bath with wet drapery in her hand ; but 
the water which once played around the lovely goddess has 
long ceased to dance and sparkle at her feet. The riding 
house, so celebrated in the Duke of Newcastle's magnificent 
work, " General System of Horsemanship," in two royal folio 
volumes, is still in excellent preservation, and is worth a journey 
to see. 

And here I must conclude my account of Hardwick and 
Bolsover, once places of almost regal splendour, and now so 
interesting that no lover of either his country's history, or of 
the picturesque in scenery, ought, if "within a day's march," 
to neglect visiting. 



58 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

To vary the ramble, I returned to Mansfield by way of the 
village of 

SCARCLIFFE. 

At the commencement of the reign of Henry the third, the 
manor of Scarcliffe belonged to the baronial family of Freche- 
ville, but it was afterwards seized by the king because the castle 
and town of Northampton were in a hostile manner detained 
from him by Anker Frecheville, Simon de Montford, Hugh 
de Spenser, and others. 

Some time after the town of Scarcliffe was presented by 
Robert Lexington to the prior and canons of Newstead. The 
advowson of the church was given to Derley Abbey, by Hubert, 
the son of Ralph. The Duke of Devonshire is now the 
patron. The living is a vicarage, and the church is dedicated 
to "All Saints." It consists of a chancel and nave, with 
north aisle only, a south porch, and west tower. The prevailing 
style is late Norman as seen in the arcade on the north side of 
the nave and in the inner doorway of the porch, which, by 
the bye, is a fair specimen of Norman work. 

In the chancel is a remarkably large and solid oak chest of 
undoubtedly great antiquity. 

To all lovers of the romantic (and who are not ?) by far the 
most interesting feature about Scarcliffe church is the monu- 
mental effigy in the chancel of the Lady Constantia and her 
child. A more complete and beautiful monument is scarcely 
to be found. From the style of the decorations it probably 
dates back as far as the reign of King Henry the third. 

On a long scroll held by the child's hand, is the following 
elegant inscription in Leonine verse, engraved in Lombardic 
capitals : — 

•' Hie sub humo strata, 

Mulier jacet tumulata 

Constans et grata, 

Constancia jure vocata 

Cu genetrice data 

Proles requiescit humata. 

Quamquam peccata, 

Capita ejus sint cumulata, 

Crimine purgata, 

Cum prole Johanne beata 

Vivat prefata, 

Sanctorum sede loeata. — Amen." 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 59 

Nothing is now known of the family of this lady,* but the 
following interesting legend (worthy of a romance) is still 
carefully cherished in the locality : — Wandering near the 
then densely thick woods of Scarcliffe this lady lost her way 
on a dark and dreary winter's night, but the sound of the 
curfew enabled her to find her way, wearied and exhausted, to 
the village, where she was immediately taken with the pains 
of labour and died. Nobody knew who she was or where she 
came from, but her ornaments and jewels proved her to be a 
lady of high degree. After her burial her trinkets were sold 
and the proceeds invested in the purchase of as much land 
as would pay from its annual rent the expense of ringing the 
curfew bell for about an hour each night during the dark and 
dreary winter nights. This custom is still religiously observed. 

I next came to the charming little valley of Pleasley Forge, 
where I found two extensive mills of Messrs. W. Hollins & Co., 
furnishing employment for 400 or 500 hands. On the north- 
east side of the lower mill are precipitous rocks or ravines of 
limestone, affording romantic views. There are a daily school, 
mechanics' reading room and library, principally for the use 
of those employed at the mills, promoted and liberally sup- 
ported by William Hollins, Esq. 

Leaving this valley, with its busy mills and lakes, its stately 
swans and richly wooded declivities, I passed the spot cele- 
brated as being the site of two Roman villas of considerable 
pretensions, which were discovered by Major Rooke, in 1786, 
and of which he sent an interesting account to the Antiquarian 
Society, (vide Archaeologia, vol. 8, p. 363), but nothing is 
now to be seen save the ruins of a wall which the major in 
his antiquarian zeal caused to be erected over the spot, in 
order to protect the remains from that total annihilation which 
notwithstanding has long since been their fate. 

Passing on, I soon reached the village of 



MANSFIELD WOODHOUSE. 



an ancient and respectable little place, a mile and a half from 

*It is most probable that this lady was one of the baronial family of 
Frecheville, which possessed the manor of Scarcliffe for several generations. 



60 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

Mansfield, and once the seat of the Digby family, eminent for 
their loyalty and zeal in the service of the first Charles. 

The church in this village is of great antiquity. It is 
dedicated to St. Edmund, and in a forest book, written on 
parchment in 1520, it is recorded that the "town of Mansfield 
Woodhouse was burned in the year of our Lord mccciiii, and 
the Kirk stepull with the belles of the same ; for the stepull 
was afore of tymbre worke." It was re-built with stone, of 
which there are several quarries in the parish, consisting 
chiefly of that durable kind called magnesian limestone. 

On appoaching the church, I found to my delight that the 
spirit of restoration had been abroad in her purest form : the 
whole body of the church had been thoroughly repaired in 
1853, in a most admirable manner. 

This little village boasts a most excellent rural library, in 
connection with which lectures are delivered during the winter 
seasons at the new and commodious national school rooms. 

The Tower records show that in the reign of Henry the 
sixth, Sir Robert Plumbton held one bovate in this parish, 
by the service of winding a horn to frighten the wolves away 
from the town, which at that time was (like Mansfield) sur- 
rounded by a densely wooded forest. Th° ^rge tract of land 
belonging to this and to Mansfield parisl <.s been enclosed, 
so that now the heath-covered hills of old onerwood are clad 
with verdure, and the waving cornfields usurp the place of 
the graceful ferns (filices), or the still more pleasing golden- 
crested ulex Europoeus, furze, gorse, or whin, which ever you 
please to call it. 

Thus it has remained for the utilitarians of the nineteenth 
century to demolish the last remnant of "merrie Sherwood," 
the most ancient, most extensive, and decidedly most interest- 
ing of all the royal forests. 



END OF LETTER V. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 6 1 



LETTER VI. 



SHERWOOD FOREST, CLIPSTONE. 

Anxious to see the ruins of King John's palace, and that 
splendid vestige of ancient Sherwood called Birkland, I set out at 
day -break in the direction of what is generally called the Flood 
Dyke, and by its side, on a private road of the Duke of Port- 
land's, leading from near Mansfield for several miles through 
his grace's estates. It proved both a lovely and an interesting 
walk, inasmuch as it displayed a system of irrigation which, 
although the work of one individual, may safely take its stand 
as one of the most important and comprehensive ever recorded 
in the annals of agricultural improvement. A man of ordinary 
mind and means might have shrunk from such an undertaking 
with dismay ; but the indomitable perseverace of this noble 
projector enabled him to overcome every obstacle, and to 
reap the reward of a long and honourable life passed in im- 
proving his estates, and in developing the productive resources 
of the district. 

The waters of the river Man, after turning the thousands of 
spindles which whirl an \ dance over its stream, are diverted 
from their natural channel by means of an artificial canal to 
a much higher level parallel to, but at some distance from, 
the bed of the river, by which means the land lying between 
the two streams, that is, between the natural river and the 
artificial one, can be with the assistance of the shuttles, 
carriers, &c, readily irrigated at pleasure. 

These are the apparently perfectly simple and successful 
means adopted, and it is when considered how comprehen- 
sively they are carried out, and that the land was formerly 
rough, boggy, and valueless, that the scheme and its effects 



62 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

can be thoroughly appreciated ; and no lover of agriculture 
can look upon the now verdant meadows and luxuriant pas- 
tures which meet his gaze in long and pleasing succession, 
without the very highest admiration and even wonder. 

His late Grace the Duke of Portland first commenced this 
system of improvement about forty-six years ago, and there 
is^ I believe, a staff of men, locally called the " Dukes Navi- 
gators/' more or less employed ever since ; so that at the pre- 
sent time the flood meadows represent an amount of capital 
invested for improvement literally astonishing. 

Thinking the particulars of these works might interest you, 
I obtained them from an authentic source by the courtesy of 
a friend, and now send them, merely premising that, inde- 
pendently of the formation of the King's Mill dam, (named 
in a previous letter), these beautiful works have cost upwards 
of one hundred pounds per acre ! 

These, then, were His Grace the Duke of Portland's water 
meadows, in the county of Nottingham, on the 25th October, 
1849. 

A. R. P. 

In Clipstone and Clipstone Park, called Clipstone L,a 9 

water meadows .... J 

In Mansfield Woodhouse, called Mansfield Wood- 1 *» , 9fi 

house water meadows J 

In Mansfield and Sutton, called High Oakham 1 ^ . 

water Meadows J 

At Lindhurst, called Lindhurst water meadow .... 48 2 3 
In Gleadthorpe (Warsop parish), called Glead-1 -^ A 

thorpe water meadow J 

In Carburton, called Carburton water meadow . . 56 27 
In Welbeck and Norton, called the Kennel water 1 qq a r>r> 

Meadows J M U ZZ 

Making a grand total of 586 34 

To this statement may be added a large extent at Cuckney, 
and a further one at Milnthorpe, in Norton township. 

In the words of the Rev. J. Curtis, " the value of this 
project is very perceptible ; during its whole length a peren- 
nial fertility is maintained, and luxuriant crops of grass and 
clover flourish over a district where comparative sterility once 



\ 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 63 

reigned in absolute and apparently interminable power. If it 
has not already, it will in time amply repay the immense out- 
lay incurred in its formation. 55 

Proceeding for several miles through these verdant meadows 
by the lower road, which is on the edge of a charming little 
trout stream, I then passed through a wood of stately young 
oaks, called Cavendish Wood, and shortly found myself close 
to the stack yard and buildings of the Lodge, in Clipstone 
Park, built on the site of a former mansion, part of the re- 
mains of which are incorporated with the present edifice, and 
used as the farm house, which, with its spacious and convenient 
appendages, its ingenious excellent and numerous implements, 
is altogether an object of high and pleasing gratification. 
Dean Swift has observed that he is the best patriot who 
causes two ears of wheat to grow where one grew before. 
The noble proprietor of this domain has done more : he has 
dispensed upon a district of rigid barrenness the grateful 
aspect of verdure and abundance. Nobility well deserves its 
honours, its privileges, its influence, and its authority, when 
its revenues are thus expended in " scattering blessings over a 
smiling land. 55 

Leaving this interesting farm yard, with its healthy, well- 
clad labourers, majestic horses, implements in endless variety, 
first-rate stock, its unequalled stack yard, its host of one-horse 
carts and Dutch barns, I entered the little rural and happy- 
looking village of 



CLIPSTONE. 

I say happy-looking, and when I tell you that the labourers 5 
cottages have all the neatness and beauty of country villas, 
with their trellised porches, climbing honeysuckles and blush- 
ing roses, in addition to gardens, homesteads, and cottage 
cows, you will think that I use the term advisedly. This 
village, although now a comparatively obscure hamlet, was 
evidently at one time a place of much importance, some 
writers even asserting that during the Saxon heptarchy a palace 
was built and occupied by one of the Kings of Northumber- 
land. Be this as it may, it is certain that it was a royal 
manor, and possessed a royal residence, very soon after the 



64 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

Norman Conquest, and that it was a frequent and favourite 
residence of King John. It was also here that the lion- 
hearted Richard received the congratulations of the King of 
Scotland on his return from the Crusades. These incidents 
are enough to clothe the place with more than ordinary in- 
terest. I therefore eagerly sought out all that remains of the 
palace ruins, and found in an arable field, surrounded by a 
contented flock of forest sheep, a pile of thick and rugged 
walls, perforated with what were once no doubt richly-traced 
gothic windows. This remnant still frowns upon the storm 
and defies its power, and may, if permitted, endure for ages to 
come, for I found on examination that the walls are composed 
of small pieces of the imperishable magnesian limestone, and 
a concrete as hard and durable as that by which the massive 
foundations of the discovered Roman remains are generally 
cemented. 

Although this place has been by some writers designated a 
mere " hunting box," there can be no doubt it was from its 
magnitude more deserving the name of a palace ; for in 
addition to the incidents connected with its history already 
stated, I find that not only are several of the royal grants to 
Nottingham and elsewhere dated from it, but also that in 1290 
King Edward the first held a parliament or royal council here ; 
and immense cellars and extensive foundations near the 
present ruins existed but a few years ago. According to 
Thoroton the first palace here was destroyed by fire, but re- 
built in 1220, in the reign of Henry the third. 

On a bold bleak eminence some distance from the " palace" 
ruins stands another structure, which, although of modern 
date, is not the least attractive feature of this district. This 
is a beautiful gothic lodge recently erected, and called by the 
villagers the " duke's archway," a name, by the bye, hardly 
calculated to attract the notice its beauty will well repay. As 
it lay, however, in the most direct route for Birkland, I made 
a virtue of necessity and paid the archway a visit, little ex- 
pecting to find a building rich in decoration, perfect in its 
various styles of architecture, (for it is scarcely pure gothic), 
admirably appropriate to its situation and purpose, and dis- 
playing that taste and refinement in details for which its 
eminent architects (Scott and MofFatt) are so justly celebrated. 

The first stone was laid in June, 1842, and the building 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



65 



was completed in 1844, under the able superintendence of 
Mr. Lindley, whose eminence and taste as a builder I have 
before had occasion to mention, It is built of the beautiful 
limestone found at Mansfield Woodhouse, the surface of which 
being highly dressed, its countless magnesian particles glitter 
in the sun as if sprinkled with diamond dust. 

CLIPSTONE LODGE. 




^*** 5 S* fc ^>^2 



In the centre, as will be seen from the drawing, is a noble 
carriage way, and on either side are comfortable dwellings, 
while the principal room, which is over the archway, is 
dedicated by its noble founder to the cause of education, for 
the benefit of the villagers of Clipstone. 

The prospects from this room are most beautiful, including 
Birkland, with its thousand aged oaks, the venerable church of 
Edwinstowe, and a wide expanse of splendid forest scenery. 

Placed in the very centre of the locality identified with their 



66 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

exploits, the late duke happily adopted this tasteful work to 
commemorate the heroes of the famous " Garland," for 

" 3rn ifns ouv gparioug fele 5 tinnfe fytvt fe not one 
3Sut £e of Mo&rn ?|ootr Satjj Seartf, an* %itt\t Jo|m ; 
?lntt to tje entf of time, t|>e tale* #all ne'er 6e tfone 
<©f Jrcarlet, <flxeor3e*a*<ffireen, anfc jHurl), ibt mtller'g Son; 
<©£ ©urft t£e merrg frtar, folnri) mang a germon inatfe 
5n prafce of 3ftoMn l^ootf, Jfe outlafoi antf tljtiv tratfe." 

In three niches on the south side of this elegant exterior are 
beautiful and characteristic statues, in Caen stone, of the 
redoubted Outlaw himself, his friend, scarcely less famous, 
Little John, and the loving and devoted Maid Marian, or 
Clorinda ; whilst looking northward, stand the lion-hearted 
Richard, the Merry Friar, and the brave and gentle minstrel 
Allan-a-dale. As works of mechanical art, these figures are 
worthy of high admiration, but most so is the happy realiza- 
tion of the ideal of these sylvan heroes. Four hares (symbolic 
of the chase) are placed at intervals, whilst over the eastern 
and western doorways and surrounding the ducal arms, are 
two significant mottoes from the well-known lines of Horace. 

Tu secanda marmora 

Locas sub ipsum funus, et Sepulchri, 
Immemor struis domos.* 

Leaving the Lodge and following the course of a wide grassy 
road extending for miles, known as the Duke's Drive, I soon 
entered that noble vestige of the ancient forest called Birk- 
land, which, with the adjoining woods of Bilhagh, was granted 
by the Crown to the Duke of Portland in exchange for the 
perpetual advowson of St. Mary-le-bone. The former, con- 
taining 947f acres, still belongs to his grace, but the latter, 
which lies nearer the Thoresby estates, was conveyed by ex- 
change to Earl Manvers, in lieu of estates at Holbeck and 
Bonbusk, contiguous to that of Welbeck Abbey. 

In the reign of king John the Abbey of Welbeck appro- 
priated six acres, and one Robert Lessington eight acres, and 
in 1 290 the same abbey obtained a grant of free warren. 

By a survey made in 1609 there was found to be 21,009 

* And yet thou, on the brink of the grave, art bargaining to have marble 
cut for an abode. Lib. 2, Car. 18, V. 17. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 67 

oak trees in Birkland, and28, 900 in Bilhagh, and they were 
in general even at that time past maturity. 104 years, that 
is, from 1686 to 1790, there had been cut down no less than 
27,199 trees! 

The indefatigable Major Rooke published " descriptions 
and sketches" of some remarkable oaks in this locality. From 
this account it appears that in cutting down some trees in the 
Hays of Birkland and Bilhagh, letters were found cut or 
stamped in the body of the trees marking the king's reign. 
One with the letters I. R. about one foot within the tree and 
the same distance from the centre. These the Major concludes 
were for James Rex. Another contained W. M. and a crown, 
about nine inches within the tree and three feet three inches 
from the centre : these he thinks were for William and Mary. 
A third contained the letter I, with an imperfect impression 
of a blunt radiated crown, resembling those represented in 
old prints on the head of King John. These were eighteen 
inches within the tree, and above a foot from the centre, and 
the Major presumes were cur or stamped upon the outside of 
the tree during the reign of King John. Two of these trees 
were felled in 1786 the other in 1791. "This extensive grove 
of ancient and majestic oaks," says Major Rooke, " is beau- 
tifully diversified by the slender and pendant branches of the 
silver-coated birch, with which this wood abounds. Many of 
these remarkable oaks are of great antiquity, one may venture 
to say a thousand years old, Several of them measure above 
thirty-four feet in circumference, and notwithstanding the 
hollowness of their trunks, their tops and lateral branches are 
rich in foliage." 

Although the woodman's work of destruction has progressed 
rapidly since Major Rooke' s time, many of these ancient pic- 
turesque denizens of the forest are yet left to us. Perhaps 
of these, the two most remarkable are the "major oak" and 
the "butcher's shambles," both of enormous proportions, 
the major being ninety feet in circumference, and his branches 
covering a diameter of 240 feet ! The ei butcher's shambles" 
has been said to be the identical tree wherein Robin Hood 
kept his venison ! but this, though popularly credited, will 
hardly meet your belief, and in fact all it can legitimately boast 
of in this way is, that it was the depository of the mutton 
unlawfully slaughtered in the wood by a daring and notorious 



68 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

sheep stealer, who many years ago flourished in the neighbour- 
ing village of Clipstone. " But though I dispel the savorv legend 
connected with this tree, I have no wish to underrate its really 
surprising bulk, on which alone it may be content to rest its 
claims to notice. 

" Bare and leafless now its head, 
Capp'd with grizzled moss instead, 
Slowly mouldering down with age, 
The monarch quits the sylvan stage, 
Still high its hleached arms are cast, 
Still scorns to flinch and dares the blast." 

Another, and perhaps the most interesting tree of the dis- 
trict, is the "parliament oak," which stands a short distance 
from Birkland, on the turnpike road leading to Mansfield from 
Ollerton. With a massive trunk, shattered and rent asunder, 
bereft of his noble arms, branchless, and decrepit, this patriarch 
of the forest, once of sufficient consequence to invite even 
royalty beneath his shade, now leans for support against the 
sturdy props with which he has been surrounded. 

Of a truth we may say with Spenser, that it is — 

" A huge oak, dry and dead, 
Still clad with reliques of its trophies old, 
Lifting to heaven its aged hoary head, 
Whose foot on earth hath got hut feeble hold, 
And, half-disboweled, stands above the ground, 
With wreathed roots and naked arms, 
And trunk all rotten and unsound ! " 

This aged tree bears the distinguished name of the parlia- 
ment oak, from the well-authenticated fact, that beneath its 
wide-spreading branches King John and his barons held a 
brief but earnest consultation, in cod sequence of intelligence 
having been brought to the royal party (whilst hunting in 
Clipstone park) of a second revolt of the Welsh. This took 
place in 1212, and the first result was, according to Rapin, 
the execution of twenty-eight Welsh Hostages, then confined 
in Nottingham castle. 

The victims of this horrible act of cruelty were all young, 
some of them indeed of the tender age of twelve and fourteen 
years, and belonging to the most illustrious and powerful 
families in Wales ; and it is stated by some that so resolute 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 69 

was the royal tyrant to have his bloody revenge surely and 
promptly gratified, that he swore "by the teeth of God!" 
(his favorite oath when excited), that he would not eat bread 
again until with his own eyes he had seen them all put to 
death. Mounting his horse, therefore, and summoning his 
attendants, he rode with all possible speed to Nottingham, 
where his poor innocent victims were all seized and bound, 
and, amidst the most agonizing cries, carried to the ramparts 
and then hanged. After perpetrating this demon-like act 
the wretched monarch, faithful to his oath, immediately re- 
turned to Clipstone to enjoy the festivities of the table and 
the exciting pleasures of the chase. 

Passing through the village of Edwinstowe, which is most 
charmingly situated within the very midst of the forest, and 
which boasts of an ancient though recently restored church, 
with a tall and somewhat graceful- spire, I was not long ere I 
reached the ancient 

ABBEY OF RUFFORD. 

Here indeed is one of nature's sweetest solitudes, where no 
sound is heard save the melody of the woodland songsters 
the hurried splash of the water fowl, and the low booming of 
the venerable corn mill at the foot of the lake, where, accord- 
ing to tradition, the holy fathers of Rufford were wont to 
resort for the purpose of grinding their corn. 

The estates of Rufford or Rugforde, were, previous to the 
Norman Conquest, held by Ulf, a Saxon Thane, but after that 
period, passed to Gilbert de Gaunt, nephew of the Conqueror, 
whose grandson, Gilbert, having been created Earl of Lincoln, 
founded, in 1 148, on his Rufford estate an abbey for monks of 
the Cistercian order, and in honor of the blessed Virgin Mary. 
It was endowed with the lands of Rufford and other estates, 
colonised by monks brought by the founder from Rivaulx 
Abbey, in Yorkshire. Few remains of the holy brotherhood 
can now be traced save the noble building they inhabited, the 
history of both superiors and inferiors, abbot and monk, being, 
like their mortal remains, hidden in dust and obscurity. 

At the period of the destruction of monastic houses by 
Henry the eighth, only fifteen monks were found in the abbey, 
with an annual revenue of £2bA. After their expulsion, the 



70 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

abbey, together with the estate, were granted by the king to 
George, Earl of Shrewsbury, in exchange for some estates in 
Ireland. They passed by the marriage of the granddaughter 
of the Earl of Shrewsbury to Sir George Savile, of Barrowby, 
in Lincolnshire, from whom they have descended to the pre- 
sent owner, Henry Savile, Esq. 

The entrance to this beautiful park is by a most magnificent 
gateway, erected by the late earl, each pillar of which is sur- 
mounted by the exquisitely modelled armorial bearings of the 
family. At once, on passing this stately portal, the venerable 
mansion bursts upon your view. It is a right good specimen 
of a baronial residence, although it boasts not the grandeur of 
a Clumber, or the exquisite glory of a Chatsworth, still there 
is something in its appearance which betokens reality. 

Its architecture is partly that of the reign of King Stephen, 
the rest of the time of Henry the seventh. Several parts of 
it were ably restored by the late earl. 

According to Thoroton, King James the first (accompanied 
by his sons, Prince Henry and Prince Charles,) frequently 
made Rufford head quarters during his hunting excursions 
in the surrounding and at that period densely wooded forest. 
A few years ago, some labourers, while excavating, dug up a 
stone containing the following inscription, in Latin : — " Here 
lies the body of Roger de Markham, monk of this house, on 
whose soul may the mercy of God show pity. — Amen. Who 
died on the 17th day of the calendar of April, in the year of 
our Lord 1239/' 

The interior has many attractions, amongst which is shown 
a richly-tapestried room used by George the fourth on his 
visit to Rufford, when Prince Regent, and to whose honor the 
then noble owner made Rufford Abbey as it were an " open 
house," and caused the whole domain to resound with amuse- 
ment, festivity, and joy. Apropos of this royal visit to Rufford, 
I may tell you that the elder Dibdin was engaged as a sort of 
master of the ceremonies. During one of those delightful 
rambles in the neighbouring woods of which the poet fre- 
quently availed himself, he was struck with the occupation 
and manner of an aged woodman, beneath whose axe a vene- 
rable oak had just fallen. This common-place incident, al- 
though trifling in itself, was not lost upon the sensitive mind 
of Dibdin, it in fact gave rise to his celebrated song " The 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 71 

Woodman's Stroke/' which was first sung by the author on 
one of the evenings during the prince's stay at Rufford. 

The Old Brick Hall is an attractive room, with a splendid 
oak screen of modern build, composed of grotesque masks, 
deep mouldings, and rich tracery of the Elizabethan period. 

The Long Gallery is a fine room, 114 feet long and thirty- 
six feet broad, in which are many fine and valuable paintings 
worthy the attention of the connoisseur. When Laird visited 
Rufford, in 1811, he was horrified to find that the housekeeper 
had been directed to lock up two exquisite pictures in one of 
her presses below. "One of them," says he, " is a Dutch 
painting of a fiddler and group, and the other an old woman 
with flowers. The painter we believe is unknown, but the 
execution is exquisite. In short, as pictures, they may almost 
be considered as invaluable ; and we could not help expressing 
our astonishment that two Cabinet Bijoux of such exquisite 
taste should be thus suffered to lie unseen amidst table cloths 
and napkins." 

Some four pleasant miles from Rufford stands the less in- 
teresting, but more splendid residence, called 

THORESBY, 

the residence of that best of landlords, the generous, warm- 
hearted, Sailor-Lord, Earl Manvers. 

This mansion was built by the last duke of Kingston, on 
the site of the old house which was burnt down on the 4th of 
March, 1745. It is a brick erection, standing upon a rusti- 
cated stone basement, and the principal front is adorned with 
a beautiful stone portico of the Ionic order. The first resi- 
dence was celebrated as the birth-place of Lady Mary Wortley 
Montague. 

There is a tone of grandeur and magnificence about the 
interior arrangements of this residence well calculated to 
gratify the visitor, but both time and space will prevent me 
from giving you a detailed account of its respective internal 
attractions. 

The court yards, stables, offices, &c, are unusually spacious 
and well-arranged ; and the gardens speak much in favor of 
the taste of the celebrated Duchess of Kingston, under whose 



72 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

superintendence the greater part of them were constructed ; 
but all these appendages fall into utter insignificance when 
compared with the surpassing beauty of its very queen of 
parks. 

Severed from ancient Sherwood whilst yet in. her primitive 
splendor, this noble domain, forming an area of about thirteen 
square miles, has escaped the rude hand of the destroyer, and 
exists a glorious vestige of nature's unsparing handiwork 
and never-failing beauty. Time-defying oaks, lofty beeches, 
and venerable thorns clad in mistletoe, crowd upon the view 
at every turn ; whilst hundreds of deer sport, recline, and 
browse beneath their wide-spreading branches. The spacious 
and placid sheets of water lend additional and refreshing 
beauty to the scene, the minature fort and full-rigged vessel 
guarding the large lake, indicating the early predilections of 
Thoresby's present loid. 

And here I cannot refrain from alluding to the gratifying 
proceedings which took place in commemoration of the noble 
earl having attained the eigthtieth year of his age, on 11th 
August, 1858. Subscriptions were commenced by the in- 
habitants of the district, and on the 31st of that month a 
testimonial of affection and esteem was presented to the good 
old man ; and to add to the interest of the day, all the 
labourers, Sunday scholars and teachers were regaled in the 
quiet little town of Ollerton in old English style. 

His lordship's tenantry, anxious to show their regard in a 
distinctive form, presented an address to their beloved and 
sympathising landlord, beautifully illuminated on vellum, and 
enclosed in a casket of ebony, with silver mountings of the 
arms of the family, monogram, and agricultural emblems, 
with the following inscription engraved : — 

" Enclosed in this casket is the address presented to Charles Herbert 
Earl Manvers, by his tenantry, 1858." 

The address is as follows : — 

" To the Right Honourable Charles Herbert, Earl Manvers. 

" We, the undersigned, tenants of your lordship, residing in the several 
counties of Nottingham, Lincoln, Derby, and York, and many of us born 
upon the soil we now occupy, beg permission to approach your lordship 
with this humble expression of our respect and attachment, which our 
mutual connection for a long series of years induces us to offer. 

" We feel that the uniform kindness and liberality which your lordship 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 73 

has always shown as our landlord, call for our warmest acknowledgments ; 
and we would endeavour, at the same time, to express our high appreciation 
of the strict justice and impartiality for which your lordship is so eminently 
distinguished in all transactions and in every relation in life. 

" The large sums of money expended in permanent and other improve- 
ments on your various estates have added greatly to our individual success 
and prosperity : while the regular employment of so large a number of 
workpeople has been productive of the greatest benefit, not only to those 
employed, but also to the surrounding neighbourhood. 

" The liberal support afforded by your lordship to schools and charities in 
almost every parish in which your property is situated, has tended still 
further to benefit those in your estates ; and the bounties constantly dis- 
pensed to the poor and deserving have secured the deep gratitude of the 
numerous class amongst which they have been distributed. 

" Whilst fully sensible of these advantages to ourselves and those con- 
nected with us, we cannot allow this opportunity to pass without expressing 
our admiration of the invaluable aid which your lordship has extended to 
many other noble and charitable institutions of a public character, as well in 
the county in which you reside, as in the country generally ; not only by 
large pecuniary assistance, but also by unwearied personal exertion on behalf 
of their interests. 

" That your lordship and the Countess Manvers, whose many virtues and 
amiable qualities are so widely known, may long be spared to your family, 
and to us ; and that the Almighty may vouchsafe to you and to them the 
greatest of all blessings, both spiritual and temporal, is the earnest hope and 
prayer of your lordship's ever faithful and attached tenantry." 

The pleasing ceremony of presentation took place on Friday, 
October 15th, 1858, in a large tent which had been erected 
for the purpose in the most picturesque part of his noble 
domain, within a few hundred yards of the romantic glades 
of Birkland and Bilhagh, where the oaks, to use the elegant 
language of the Nottingham Journal, (to the columns of which 
I am indebted for a most interesting account of the ceremony) 
— the ancient denizens of the forest still present their massive 
forms, and though most of them are in different stages of 
decay, yet they continue to stand, "great in ruin, noble in 
decay." What these ancient monarchs of the forest may 
have witnessed during the period they have been stationary 
here, for the last six or seven hundred years, could they but 
write, we know not ! but we question whether ever a finer 
spectacle was seen than when the noble owner of these majestic 
oaks, himself far advanced in life, addressed his happy, 
prosperous, and numerous tenantry, on their presenting him 
their congratulatory address. 

It was a sight "worthy of the gods," and Lord Manvers 



74 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

himself must have been proud of his position ; and whilst 
acknowledging the bounty of Providence, and the thanks of 
his tenantry, might have adopted as his temporary motto : — 

Dei memor, gratus amicis." 
Mindful of God ; grateful to friends. 

His lordship's reply was so characteristic of the man that 
I should consider the narrative incomplete without it. 
He said : — 

" Gentlemen, — Deeply sensible of the gratitude I owe to you all for the 
spontaneous compliment you have been pleased to pay me, I would willingly 
think that you have not taken a more favorable view of my conduct than it 
may deserve, and as there are three generations of the family now present, 
I may be allowed to pray that the other two may, in due time, have entitled 
themselves to a similar demonstration. 

" With respect to the kind mention you have made of my inestimable 
wife, I will merely say, That she deserves it all, and ten per cent in 
addition ! Indeed, I hardly dare trust myself on that subject, for fear my 
audience might be led to suppose that their antidiluvian landlord was be- 
coming garrulons." 

These words were received with as hearty a round of cheers 
as ever resounded through the richly-arched mazes of " Merrie 
old Sherwood." 

The village of 

BUDBY, 

which, as I have before stated, lies within the King's great 
Manor of Mansfield, is situate at the south-west corner of 
Thoresby Park, under a thickly-wooded aclivity, with the river 
Meden gently flowing past. This village belongs solely to 
Lord Manvers, and is looked upon as the very model of village 
comfort and beauty, and, in truth, it well deserves the celeb- 
rity. The cottages are all built in the Swiss or Gothic style, 
and every attention must have been paid to the picturesque 
in their erection. The neat and luxuriant gardens with which 
they are surrounded, combine to make this pretty little' town 
all that the most romantic and fastidious taste could wish. 
But why should I dwell upon one single scene, when all around 
is lovely ! Permit me, therefore, to direct your steps along 
the wild and glorious tracts of Thoresby' s noble park, into 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



75 



the precincts of the no less beautiful specimen of Sherwood's 



ancient glory, 



CLUMBER PARK, 



Where " more dark 
And dark the shades accumulate ; the oak, 
Extending its immense and knotty arms, 
Embraces the light beech. The pyramids 
Of the tail cedar overarching frame, 
Most solemn domes within ; and far below 
The ash and the acacia floating hang, 
Tremulous aud pale." 

This extensive, and for some reasons, perhaps the most 
beautiful park in the " Dukeries," adjoins Thoresby Park on 
the south, is about three miles in length and breadth, and 
comprises upwards of 3000 acres, of what, a century ago, 
was designated "a black heath, full of rabbits;" but where 
you now behold a constant succession of park-like scenery, 
rich in effect, and charming beyond measure to the lover of 
sylvan scenery. " The hills," says Throsby, " or rather 
rising grounds, are beautifully clothed with woody scenery, 
the lawns smooth, and the walks every where adorned with 
rich plantations, seated in the happiest succession." 

As the visitor emerges from the thickly-wooded drive which 
leads from Thoresby, the eifect, as he catches a first glimpse 
of the mansion and its silvery lake, is both enchanting and 
startling ! His anticipations of the beauty and grandeur of 
this palace of the forest are more than realized. 

" Here softest beauties open to my view, 

Here many a flower expands its blushing charms, 

Here the thick foliage wears a greener hue, 
And lofty trees extend their leafy arms : 

All things conspire to deck the milder scene, 
And nature's gentlest form here smiles serene." 

The peaceful lake winds gracefully through woods of nature's 
richest verdure, and along her peaceful waters glides the ma- 
jestic swan, gently rippling the otherwise unbroken surface 
with his snowy breast. On the north side of her serpentine 
waters, rises, as though by enchantment, the princely residence 
of the Duke of Newcastle. 



76 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST- 

Who can wonder, as they gaze upon its loveliness, that 
poets have sung of its beauties, and poetasters have grown 
grandiloquent in their vain efforts to describe this 
" Most living landscape !" 

Gently receding from the water, are two flights of steps, 
which lead on to one of the most beautiful terraces, perhaps, 
in England. It is laid out in ornamental flower beds, pro- 
fusely decorated with statuary, and having an elegant Italian 
marble fountain, supported by dolphins, in its centre. 

A light Ionic colonnade, surmounted by the arms of the 
family, gives a graceful and pleasing effect to this front of the 
noble edifice. To the east of the terrace lie the conservatory 
and aviary, with other ornamental apartments for fossils, &c. 

There are two other fronts to the house, which I need not 
here describe, so pass we then into the interior, by the 

Grand Entrance Hall, a truly noble, lofty, and well-pro- 
portioned apartment, supported by graceful pillars* In it will 
be found some fine works of art, including an elegant marble 
medallion of a dolphin and Triton, some fine antique busts, 
and richly-inlaid marble tables. Next comes the 

Staircase, light, elegant, and perfect in its btyle, decorated 
with richly-gilt balustrades, "curiously wrought and gilt in the 
shape of crowns, with tassels hanging down between them, 
from cords twisted into knots and festoons." 

It is adorned with a marble model of the Laocoon group, 
some Roman monuments, several fine paintings, a bust of the 
late duke, and many articles of vertu. 

The Library, a most attractive place, is forty-five feet by 
thirty-one, and no less than twenty-one feet in height, fitted 
up with elegant mahogany cases, which contain a careful se- 
lection of classical literature, A rich Corinthian aich, sup- 
ported by columns of jasper, opens into 

The New Reading Room, thirty feet by twenty-seven, 
which was completed in 1832, and from the beautiful octagon 
window of which a most lovely view of the lake and pleasure 
grounds is obtained. Perhaps, however, the grandest feature 
in the interior of Clumber, is its noble 

State Dining Room, rich in all its details, and perfect in all 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 77 

its proportions ! in length sixty feet, in breadth thirty-four 
feet, in height thirty feet ; it is in truth the admiration of all 
beholders. In this spacious saloon, 150 guests can readily be 
accommodated. The ceilings and panels are richly gilt ; and, 
in fact, all the decorations reflect the highest credit upon the 
refined taste of those whose liberality prompted its erection. 

I feel that further details of the apartments are unnecessary, 
inasmuch as all of them are fitted up in fine accordance 
with those I have briefly described, and well deserve the glow- 
ing eulogium of a former visitor, who says that " everything 
about the house breathes the essence of taste and c the very 
soul of magnificence !' " 

The lovers of the fine arts have indeed a rich treat in store ; 
the seven paintings in the dining room alone being valued at 
-3625, 000 ; and probably I cannot better close my brief and 
imperfect description of this ducal residence than by append- 
ing a catalogue of the chief pictures, with the able and 
judicious criticisms of the talented Dr. Waagen. 

COLLECTION OF PICTURES AT 
CLUMBER PARK. 

This collection is especially adorned by fine specimens of 
the Netherlandish school, and also contains a few by Italian 
and French masters. 

State Dining Room. — Snyders. — 1, 2, 3, 4. Four large 
pictures with poultry, fruit, and fish. On one of them are 
figures, by Langjan, in the act of selling fish. These are 
excellent specimens of the master. 

Jan Weenix. — A large landscape, in which is a large 
urn ; in the foreground a dog with dead game. This is a 
picture of the first-class by the master in point of composition, 
power, truth, mastery of execution, and size. 

Zucharelli. — 1 and 2. Two landscapes of upright form, 
with cattle, belonging to his best works. 

Breakfast Room. — Gainsborough. — A beggar child. 
Naive and lively in feeling, and of masterly execution. 

Claude Lorraine,— A small wooded landscape, with a 
piece of water. Of cool tone, with the exception of the 
warm sky. 



78 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

Poelemberg. — A landscape with ruins, and nymphs close 
by. Of great delicacy. 

Jacob Ruysdaejl. — t . A stormy sea, with breakers in the 
foreground. Several boats, and one with a red sail : on the 
left a pier ; on the right, in the distance, a ship. Signed. 
A very spirited work, of masterly execution. 

Holbein. — A male portrait in a black dress and cap ; the 
background of landscape character. An admirable work of 
his middle time. 

Jan Breughel. — Spring; represented by the reign of 
Flora. The goddess herself is by Rothenhammer. An 
excellent picture of moderate size. 

Jacob Ruysdael. — 2. A wooded eminence, with a 
house upon it, partly in sunshine ; before it a field and garden 
in full sunshine. The sky is lightly treated in the taste of 
Hobbema. An excellent and careful picture of his earlier 
time. 

Jan Mostaert. — The Virgin standing in a purple mantle, 
holding the Child, the lower limbs of whom are covered with 
a cloth ; at the sides are three angels, one of them playing 
the lute, another extending a pink with a joyful expression ; 
the figures of two angels in stone upon two columns, holding 
festoons of flowers : through an arch is the view of a land- 
scape and a church ; in the church is seen a rose-coloured 
carpet worked with gold, of rare delicacy ; a small portion of 
the picture is broken off above which interferes with an in- 
scription ; in niches are the stone statues of two prophets. 
One of the most beautiful works of the master, who belongs 
in point of feeling and technical treatment to the Van Eyck 
school. About 1-ft. 6 -in. high and 1-ft. ^-in. wide. 

Dining Room. — Teniers. — 1. A rather large landscape. 
In front of a house is a maid-servant sweeping. Painted in a 
silvery tone, but the treatment of scenic character. 

Philip Wouvermans. — Landscape with a stag-hunt. Of 
highly dramatic composition. 

Van Os. — Flower and fruit piece. Sunny in effect in the 
style of Van Huysum, and very careful. 

Claude Lorraine. — A small picture, with two trees in 
the centre, and three cows in front. Of delicate painting in 
a cool tone. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 79 

The Crimson Drawing Room. — Francesco Furini. — 
Sigismunda lamenting over the heart of Tancred. Of deep 
feeling, and warm and clear colouring. 

Gaspar Poussin. — 1 and 2. Two very poetic landscapes. 
Companion pictures. 

Bathista Franco. — The Baptism of Christ. 

Guido Reni. — Artemisia. In his coldest tones. 

Rubens. — 1. A girl smelling a flower. 

Rembrandt. — Portrait of a man holding a roll of paper 
in his right hand, and lifting a curtain with his left. Care- 
fully painted in his bright golden tones. 

Rubens. — 2. A woman with a bunch of grapes. Com- 
panion to the foregoing, and of the same style. Both belong 
probably to some series representing the five senses. 

Gaspar Poussin. — 3. A large landscape, with a hill 
in the middle distance ; behind which is the Roman 
Campagna, terminated by a warm horizon. Of marvellous 
poetry and transparency, and careful execution. 

Van Uden and Teniers. — 2. A village with various 
figures. 

Large Drawing Room. — Vandyck. — Rinaldo and Armida. 
Full length, life-size figures. Of pleasing composition, ani- 
mated heads, and brownish colouring. The beautiful land- 
scape is warm in colouring. 

Benedetto Castiglione. — The finding of Cyrus. Full 
length, life-size figures. A very good work of the master. 

Staircase. — Snvders. — A lioness tearing a boar. Of ani- 
mated and spirited treatment. 

Anti-Room. — Holbein. — A male portrait, with a cap and 
a baton, purporting to be that of Sir Thomas More. 

Chaplain's Room. — Teniers. — 3. A cow-stable ; a woman 
pouring milk into a pail, and speaking to a man standing be- 
fore the door, a boy and a calf are striking objects. A rather 
large picture, of great truth, especially a brown cow, and 
powerfully painted in a clear colour. 

4. A landscape. In the foreground a shepherd playing 
the flute, a party in front of a house. Of sunny effect* and 
careful finish. 

Gainsborough. — A very successful landscape- 

Wilson. — A landscape with a piece of water, very attractive. 



80 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



LETTEE VII. 



WELBECK ABBEY. 

" And one, an English home — gray twilight ponr'd 

On dewy pastures, dewy trees, 
Softer than sleep — all things in order stored, 

A haunt of ancient Peace." 

In passing through the almost endless plantations which 
appear to surround this venerable seat, it is impossible not to 
admire both the rich beauty of the scenery, as well as the 
luxuriant evidences of the unprecedented zeal of his grace 
and his immediate predecessor in promoting the growth of 
timber. And all the country round is a wide model of that 
fine system of farming for which the noble owner and his 
tenantry have long been celebrated. 

The original abbey was founded in the reign of King 
Stephen, by Thomas de Fleming, who held the manor of 
Cuckney, by the service " of shoeing the king's palfrey upon 
all four feet, with the king's nails, as oft as he should be at 
Mansfield." He dedicated the church to St. James, and gave 
all the adjacent lands belonging to him, in " meadows, pas- 
tures, woods, and tillage, in perpetual alms to Sir Berengarius, 
the abbot, and to all his successors, and the brethren there 
regularly serving God, for his own soul, and his father's and 
mother's, and all his ancestors, and all their' 's from whom he 
had unjustly taken their goods /" To this grant he, and 
several of his descendants, added other valuable property ; 
and Robert de Manill, Lord of Whitwell, gave to the church 
of Welbeck a quarry in his land, wherever it might be found 
most convenient, to build the said church of St. James, and 
other offices. 



A VISTT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 3 I 

Many other noble benefactions followed, including a grant 
by Edward the fourth, in the nineteenth year of his reign, 
which provided "that* they should have plenty of such good 
things as the woods and fields afforded," including free 
warren, or the liberty to kill venison and game over twenty-six 
lordships, viz., four in Lincolnshire, eighteen in Nottingham- 
shire, and four in Derbyshire. Ten years afterwards, the same 
monarch granted other important privileges, so that this noble 
foundation eventually became one of the richest abbeys in the 
kingdom. 

In the 13th Henry the eighth, (the year of its dissolution), 
its annual revenues amounted to 56250. It was first purchased 
by Richard Whalley, from whom it passed to Sir Charles 
Cavendish, who, as I have before stated, was the youngest son 
of the Countess of Shrewsbury. Sir Charles' son became 
Duke of Newcastle, and wrote the celebrated treatise upon 
horsemanship ; and he it was who erected the beautiful riding 
house at Welbeck, (1 623) which for extent and fine proportion 
is not equalled probably by anything of the kind in the king- 
dom. From this family the present Duke of Portland is 
maternally descended. 

Few remnants of the ancient abbey now remain, and these 
are old sepulchral monuments, affixed to some of the inner 
walls, the rest having been erected so recently as 1604. The 
style, however, is in strict accordance with its former character, 
and its pointed gables, clustered chimneys, battlements, turrets, 
and towers, all unite in giving to Welbeck Abbey a remarkable 
and antiquated appearance. 

The present noble owner recently made several valuable 
additions to the abbey in the shape of out-offices, stables, 
kennels, spacious gardens, gas works, &c, &c, all bespeaking 
the correct taste of the duke and the skill of his grace's 
architect, Mr. Chas. Jas. Neale, of Mansfield, under whose 
supervision the works have been carried out. 

The general tone and appearance of the abbey as a resi- 
dence, have been greatly improved since my last visit, the 
interior decorations alone being of a superb and costly kind, 
and giving a lightness and elegance to the noble suites of 
rooms to which they had hitherto been strangers. 

The most attractive features in the interior are the choice 
paintings and rare collections of miniatures, for the following 

G 



82 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

list and criticisms upon which I am indebted to the able pen 
and refined taste of Dr. Waagen. 

COLLECTION OF PICTURES AT 
WELBECK ABBEY. 

Although this collection consists principally of pictures of 
the Netherlandish school, yet good works by Italian, German, 
French, and English masters are also here. A rich series of 
portraits in miniature is also an attraction in this collection. 
It was commenced by Harley, Earl of Oxford, carried on by 
his son, the second earl, and further increased by Vertue for 
the widow of the latter. 

Ante -Room. — Caspar Netscher. — Portrait of King 
William III. 

Melchior Hondekoeter. — 1 and 2. Two pictures 
with water-fowls, and a family of hen and chickens belong to 
his good works. 

Frans Hals. — Portrait of an old woman. 

Roland Savery. — An animal piece. Rich and good. 

Vandyck (?). — Charles L on a horse of pale colour. 
Like the picture at Blenheim. 

School of Giovanni Bellini. — Holy Family, in a land- 
scape, with the animated portrait of the donor. 

In this apartment, in a series of frames under glass, is the 
collection of miniatures. It was very interesting to trace 
portraits from the time of Henry VIII. to Queen Anne — 
among which, those by the hands of Isaac and Peter 
Oliver, Nicholas Hilliard, Samuel Cooper, Flat- 
man, Hoskins, Petitot, Zincke, and Lens, are remark- 
able. 

Small Drawing Room. — Henrick van Steenwyck. — 
1 . A room, with St. Jerome and his lion. Signed and dated 
1624. Carefully executed in a very clear and bright tone. 

Johann van Calcar. — (Scholar of Titian). — Sketch 
for the fine male portrait in the Louvre, here called a Titian. 
Very interesting. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds. — 1. The late Duke of Portland, 
as a boy, in a landscape. The conception is very animated, 
the colouring warm, but the forms somewhat empty. 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 83 

Henrick van Steenwyck. — 2. The deliverance of" 
St. Peter. A large, careful, and warm picture of good effect. 

Jan Both. — A large landscape, with a piece of very- 
transparent water. 

Vandyck. — 1. Sir Kenelm Digby, in a purple dress, his 
wife in blue, and two children. To the knees. The back- 
ground architecture, a curtain, and a landscape. This is a 
duplicate of the picture in the possession of the Queen. 
Carefully painted in a warm though somewhat heavy tone. 

Carlo Dolce. — St. Cecilia. An excellent picture by the 
master. The hands resembling those of the same saint in 
the gallery at Dresden. 

Vandyck. — 2. Portrait of William of Orange, afterwards 
William III. 

Snyders.— 1 . Two lionesses following a roe. Very ani- 
mated and masterly, and not inferior to the same composition 
in the gallery at Munich. 

Vandyck. — 3. Archbishop Laud. Almost to the knees. 
Very animated, and of careful painting in a warm tone. The 
hand is particularly excellent. 

G a spar Poussin. — A small landscape. 

Large Drawing Room, — Jacob Ruysdael.— A landscape 
with grand oaks and a piece of water. Figures in the fore- 
ground. A fine composition, but now dark and brown in 
tone. 

Philip Wouvermans. — A hunting party. A huntsman 
blowing a bugle. 

Sassoferrato. — The Madonna praying. An excellent 
example of this often-repeated picture. Of a very warm 
tone. 

Tintoretto. — Portrait of a man with his left hand on a 
book, and the right pointing to something. Of very animated 
feeling and carefully painted. 

Annibale Carracci. — St. John the Baptist, seated in a 
landscape, pointing to Christ, who is seen in the distance. 
Decidedly realistic, but of great energy, and painted in a 
brown tone. The landscape is poetic. 

Willem van de Velde. — 1. A calm, with various 
small vessels. A gun is being fired from a large ship. A 
delicate picture in a warm tone. 



84 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

2. — The companion. Also a calm sea, with several boats. 
One of them on the left in the foreground, with its white sail 
reflected in the water. Admirable. 

Raphael (?). — An early and careful copy of Francis Fs. 
Holy Family, in the Louvre. 

Paul Bril. — Landscape, with a piece of water. A deli- 
cate picture of the best time of the master. 

Peter Neefs. — Interior of a church by candlelight. Of 
great delicacy. 

Vandyck. — A child upon a bed. Of great charm and 
very lively. 

Sir Joshua Reynolds. — Lord Richard Cavendish, in 
youthful years. Very true and energetic, and of masterly 
painting. 

Gaspar Poussin. — 1. A landscape, of upright form. In 
the foreground two figures reposing. 

2. — The companion to this. 

Claude Lorraine. — A landscape with a shepherd and 
shepherdess in the foreground. 

Vandyck. — 5. An Antwerp senator. 

Dining Room. — Jan Griffier. — A very pretty land- 
scape. 

Snyders. — 2, 3, 4, and 5. Four large pictures. 

Titian. — Portrait of a man leaning on his left hand. 
Spirited in conception, and of masterly execution, in golden 
tones. 

Vandyck. — 6. Lord Stratford* A baton in his right 
hand. With the left he is pointing to a helmet next him. 
The background landscape. Of spirited conception, and 
executed in the same broken flesh-tones as the picture in 
Wentworth House. 

Hondekoeter. — 1 and 2. Two good pictures of poultry. 

Giacomo Bassamo. — 1 and 2. Two unusually trans- 
parent works. 

Rembrandt (?). — His own portrait, in aged years. 

Cornelis Jansen (?), — This is called the portrait of the 
Dutch Admiral Tromp ; it, however, is decidedly that of 
Admiral Ruyter, by another and also excellent master. 

Rubens. — I. A Triton with sea-nymphs, and boys carry- 
ing festoons of fruit. In chiarascuro. Spirited 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 85 

Staircase. — Van der Meulen. — A siege. Of consider- 
able extent. This appears to be a good picture. 

Gothic Hall. — Sir Joshua Reynolds. — 2, 3, 4, and 5. 
Four pictures : Charity, Hope, and two other allegorical 
figures. These are meritorious works, though inferior to 
those of a similar, kind in the possession of Lord Normanton. 

6. — An angel on clouds, in a large arched space. Of great 
softness and transparency. 

7. — William Bentinck, third Duke of Portland, in a red 
dress, seated thoughtfully before a desk. Of very animated 
conception. 

Entrance Hall. — Holbein.— Portrait of a man in black 
dress, holding a palm in his left hand, and a small book in a 
bag, on which are five little red crosses, in his right. The 
ground green. A most admirable picture, in excellent pre- 
servation. 

Peter Breughel the Younger, called Hell Breu- 
ghel. — A tournament between an old woman and a man 
upon a barrel. A rich compositon in his broad comic vein. 
It hangs between the windows. 

A Smaller Room, — Gerard Honthorst. — The adoration 
of the shepherds. A good picture of the master. 

Snyders. — 1, 2, and 3. Two wild boar hunts and a bull 
fight. Good works. 

Pleasing and beautiful though this mansion from its situation 
undoubtedly is, I do not find many very remarkable reminis- 
cences connected with its history, except that it has on several 
occasions been visited by royalty. 

In 1619, King James paid Sir William Cavendish a visit 
at Welbeck, where he was entertained with the greatest 
magnificence. The following year Sir William was created 
Baron Ogle. 

In 1633, King Charles the first, making his progress into 
Scotland to be crowned, did the noble proprietor the honor of 
resting at Welbeck, where his majesty and court "were re- 
ceived in such a manner, and with such excess of feasting as 
had scarcely ever been known in England." On this occasion 
the services of Ben Jonson were secured to write plays, or 
masques, the performance of which was for the amusement of 



86 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

the royal party. The first of these is entitled "Love's 
Welcome ; the King's Entertainment at Welbeck, in Notting- 
hamshire, a House of the Right Honorable William, Earl of 
Newcastle, Viscount Mansfield, Baron of Bothal and Bolsover, 
&c, at his going into Scotland, 1633." Gifford in speaking 
of this masque says, "the object was merely to introduce in 
a kind of anti-masque a course of Quintain, performed by 
the gentlemen of the county, neighbours of this great earl, in 
the guise of rustics, in which much awkwardness was affected, 
and much real dexterity probably shown." The following 
eulogium upon the unfortunate monarch appears towards the 
conclusion of the piece, which being now rare, may not be an 
uninteresting extract : 

" Such a king 
As men would wish, that knew not how to hope 
His like, but seeing him ! A prince that's law 
Unto himself ; is good for goodness' sake — 
And so becomes the rule unto his subjects ; 
That studies not to seem or to show great, 
But be ! Not dressed for others' eyes and cars, 
With visors and false rumours, but make fame 
Wait on his actions, and thence speak his name." 

The Welbeck gardens are much celebrated for their beauty 
and extent, and are well-supplied with rare exotics and choice 
fruit. 

Within the precincts of the park are many noble and re- 
markable trees, foremost of which, in antiquity and interest, 
stands 

The Greendale Oak, which has not inaptly been called the 
" Methuselah of trees." 

Major Rooke, in speaking of this tree in 1 779, says, " this 
famous oak is thought to be above 700 years old, and from 
its appearance, there is every reason to suppose it has attained 
to that age at least. The circumference of the trunk above 
the arch is thirty-five feet three inches ; height of the arch 
ten feet three inches ; width about the middle six feet three 
inches ; height to the top branch fifty-four feet. The 
Countess of Oxford had several cabinets made of the branches 
and ornamented with inlaid representations of the oak." The 
height of this tree at the present time is about fifty feet, and 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 87 

its principal attraction consists in its having an archway cut 
through its sturdy trunk sufficiently wide, as the " natives'' 
say, for a carriage and four horses to drive through ! 

This singular and withal interesting aperture was made in 
1724, and was then higher than the entrance to Westminster 
abbey! About 1646, this oak was eighty-eight feet high, the 
diameter of the head being eighty-one feet. 

No lover of the beautiful in nature can gaze upon this 
venerable relic without deep interest, 

" So grand in weakness — e'en in his decay 

So venerable — 'twere sacrilege t' escape 

The consecrating touch of time." 
***** 

" Time hollow'd in its trunk 
A tomb for centuries, and buried there 
The epochs of the rise and fall of states, 
The fading generations of the world, 
The memory of men." 

The Porters 9 Oaks are so called from there having been a 
gate between them. The dimensions of these trees, as given 
by Major Rooke, are : height of one ninety-eight feet, the other 
eighty-eight feet : circumference of the former at bottom 
thirty-eight feet, the latter thirty-four feet. 

The Seven Sisters is another interesting tree, and so called 
from its having had seven stems or trunks issuing out of one 
stool, in a perpendicular direction. The same authority gives 
the height of this tree as eighty-eight feet, and the circum- 
ference at the bottom at thirty-four feet. 

The Duke's Walking Stick is described by the major as 
being in height 1 1 1 feet six inches ; solid contents 440 feet ; 
weight eleven tons ! " It may be doubted," says he, " whether 
this admirable tree can be matched by any other in the king- 
dom." This noble fellow has, alas! long ceased to exist, 
and its title transferred to a fine young oak near the abbey, 
straight as a pike staff, and nearly 100 feet in height, and 
seventy feet to the branches. This "youngster" is about 130 
years old. 

At the lower end of the beautiful winding lake at Welbeck, 
and within sight on one side of the abbey, and on the other 



88 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

of the Mansfield and Worksop turnpike road, the noble duke 
is now erecting, at an enormous expense, a beautiful iron 
bridge, of graceful proportions, and calculated to have, from 
every point of view, a most imposing effect.* A short dis- 
tance from it is the gate and the oak tree near which, on the 
21st September, 1848, the lifeless body of Lord George Ben- 
tinck was found. 

On the west side of Welbeck park is an ancient and exten- 
sive mansion, called Woodhouse Hall, which is even now 
surrounded by a moat, and presents a venerable appearance. 
Thoroton says that the first earl of Kingston, who died in 
1 643, resided here "the most part of forty years ;" and there is 
no doubt but it originally belonged to the neighbouring village 
of Cuckney, and was, in fact, the site of the castle of Cuckney, 
erected by the founder of Welbeck Abbey. This rarely visited 
but interesting residence is now occupied by a respectable 
farmer. 

In concluding this account of Welbeck Abbey, I wonld fain 
have expatiated upon the many noble qualities, generous im- 
pulses, and exalted virtues of its venerable owner, f but the 

*This elegant structure has since been removed, in order to make way for 
certain extensive alterations which the present noble and spirited owner of 
"Welbeck is making. 

f Since the first edition of this work was published, the venerable noble- 
man who then lived in the hearts and affections of both tenantry, retainers, 
and friends, has paid the solemn debt of nature. He died on Monday, the 
27th of March, 1854, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. In accordance 
with the wish expressed some time previously that he should be interred in 
Bolsover church, derives some interest from the fact that it is upwards of 
a century since the last member of the noble family from which his grace 
derived his descent was here buried ; it being his wish to remove the occasion 
for pomp and ostentation which would have existed had his body been re- 
moved to London, for interment in the family vault at St. Mary-le-bone, 
where the late duchess, his lamented son, Lord George Bentinck, and other 
near relatives have found their last resting place. His last instructions to 
his executors appear to have been that his funeral should be conducted in 
the plainest and most simple manner possible ; and that the utmost sum to 
be expended for such a purpose, should be £100. The interment took place 
on the 4th of April. 

It, is however, no small pleasure to reflect that previous to that sad event 
a spirited portrait of the " fine old English gentleman" was, at the earnest 
request of his tenantry, taken by F. Grant, R.A. The picture now graces 
the ancient walls of Welbeck, and many are the well-engraved copies which 
are to be found in the dwellings of his admirers. 



A VISIT, TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 89 

sentiments in an address, presented to his grace some time 
ago, are so well expressed, that I prefer sending you a copy 
of it. 

" To the Most Noble William Henry Cavendish Scott, Duke of Portland. 

" We, the inhabitants of Mansfield and its vicinity, in public meeting 
assembled, beg most warmly to congratulate your grace upon an event 
which cannot but be hailed with pleasure by every one to whom your many 
virtues are known, namely, that of completing your eightieth year. 

" It is, under ordinary circumstances, highly gratifying to see the good 
and the great in life enjoying a revered and honorable old age ; but when 
such blessings fall to the lot of one possessing so large a share of our vene- 
ration and regard as your grace has ever done, we fell a pleasure which 
language can but feebly express. 

" As a liberal benefactor to the district in which we reside, and as a pro- 
moter of every object calculated to soothe and alleviate the sorrows and 
sufferings of our poorer fellow-creatures, or to advance the cause of religion and 
education — at once kind, charitable, and humane, your name is affectionately 
endeared to us ; and our earnest hope is, that it may please Almighty God 
to continue His blessing towards you, so that you may long remain in the 
uninterrupted enjoyment of health and happiness, and also of that peace of 
mind ' which passeth understanding/ 

"Dated at Mansfield, this 27th day of June, 1848. 

(Signed) " ERAS. HALL, Chairman/' 

Here then my pleasant task concludes. Hurried and im- 
perfect as these descriptions are, they may, I hope, both 
gratify and amuse you : beyond this I do not aspire. For my 
own part, in looking back upon my rambles — whether I 
think of the sacred edifices which the zeal and devotion of 
former generations raised to the service of God — or of the ex- 
tent and splendour of the baronial halls I have attempted to 
describe — or of all the interesting scenes with which nature's 
most lovely domain, "Old Sherwood," is studded — I feel 
more than gratified with my visit to this charming portion of 
our native land, and exclaim with the American poet — 

" O what a glory doth this world put on, 
For him who with a fervent heart goes forth 
Under the bright and glorious sky, and looks 
On duties well performed, and days well spent! 
For him the wind — aye, and the yellow leaves — 
Shall have a voice, and give him eloquent teachings." 



END OF LETTER VII. 



90 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE. LETTER IV. PAGE 24. 



ROBIN HOOD. 

It will scarcely be expected that one should be able to offer an 
authentic narrative of the life and transactions of this extra- 
ordinary personage. The times in which he lived, the mode 
of life he adopted, and the silence or loss of contemporary 
writers, are circumstances sufficiently favourable indeed to 
romance, but altogether inimical to historical truth. The 
reader must therefore be contented with such detail, however 
scanty or imperfect, as a zealous pursuit of the subject enables 
one to give ; and which, though it may fail to satisfy, may 
probably serve to amuse. 

The industrious Sir John Hawkins, from whom the public 
had been previously taught to expect ample gratification upon 
the subject, acknowledges that the history of this popular 
hero is but little known, and all the scattered fragments con- 
cerning him, could they be brought together, would fall far 
short of satisfying such an inquirer as none but real and well- 
authenticated facts will content. "We must," he says, "take 
the story as we find it." It is not therefore pretended that 
the present attempt promises more than to bring together the 
scattered fragments to which the historian alludes. This, 
however, has been done according to the best of^the compiler's 
information and abilities ; and the result is, with a due sense 
of the deficiency of both, submitted to the reader's candour. 

Robin Hood was born at Locksley, in the county of Not- 
tingham, in the reign of Henry the second, and about the 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 91 

year of Christ 1160. His extraction was noble, and his true 
name was Robert Fitzoothes, which vulgar pronunciation 
easily corrupted into Robin Hood. He is frequently styled, 
and commonly reputed to have been, Earl of Huntingdon ; a 
title to which, in the latter part of his life, at least, he actually 
appears to have had some sort of pretension. In his youth 
he is reported to have been of a wild and extravagant disposi- 
tion ; insomuch that, his inheritance being consumed or for- 
feited by his excesses, and his person outlawed for debt, either 
from necessity or choice, he sought an asylum in the woods 
and forests, with which immense tracts, especially in the 
northern parts of the kingdom, were at that time covered. Of 
these he chiefly affected Barnsdale, in Yorkshire, Sherwood, 
in Nottinghamshire, and, according to some, Plompten Park, 
in Cumberland. Here he either found or was afterwards 
joined by a number of persons in similar circumstances : 

" Such as the fury of ungovern'd youth, 
Thrust from the company of awful men," 

who appear to have considered and obeyed him as their chief 
or leader, and of whom his principal favorites, or those in 
whose courage and fidelity he most confided, were Little 
John, (whose surname is said to have been Nailor), William 
Scadlock (Scathelock or Scarlet), George-a-Green, pindar or 
pound-keeper of Wakefield, Much, a miller's son, and a cer- 
tain monk or friar named Tuck. He is likewise said to have 
been accompanied in his retreat by a female, of whom he was 
enamoured, and whose real or adopted name was Marian. 

His company, in process of time, consisted of a hundred 
archers; men, says Major, "most skilful in battle, whom four 
times that number of the boldest fellows durst not attack." 
His manner of recruiting was somewhat singular ; for, in the 
words of an old writer, " whersoever he hard of any that were 
of unusual strength and hardines he would desgyse himselfe, 
and, rather then fayle, go lyke a begger, to become acquaynted 
with them ; and, after he had tryed them with fyghting, never 
give them over tyl he had used means to drawe them to 
lyve after his fashion :" a practice of which numerous in- 
stances are recorded in the more common and popular songs, 
where, indeed, he seldom fails to receive a sound beating. In 
shooting with the long bow, which they chiefly practised, 



92 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

" they excelled all the men of the land ; though as occasion 
required, they had also other weapons." 

In these forests, and with this company, he for many years 
reigned like an independent sovereign; at perpetual war, 
indeed, with the King of England, and all his subjects, with 
an exception, however, of the poor and needy, and such as 
were " desolate and oppressed," or stood in need of his pro- 
tection. When molested by a superior force in one place, he 
retired to another, still defying the power of what was called 
law and government, and making his enemies pay dearly, as 
well for their open attacks as for their clandestine treachery. 

It is not, at the same time, to be concluded that he must, 
in this opposition, have been guilty of manifest treason or 
rebellion ; as he most certainly can be justly charged with 
neither. An outlaw, in those times, being deprived of pro- 
tection, owed no allegiance : " his hand was against every 
man, and every man's hand against him." These forests, in 
short, were his territories ; those who accompanied and ad- 
hered to him, his subjects. 

The world was not his friend, nor the world's law. 

And what better title King Richard could pretend to the 
territory and people of England than Robin Hood had to the 
dominion of Barnsdale or Sherwood is a question humbly 
submitted to the consideration of the political philosopher. 

The deer with which the royal forests then abounded (every 
Norman tyrant being, like Nimrod, "a mighty hunter before 
the Lord,") would afford our hero and his companions an 
amply supply of food throughout the year ; and of fuel, for 
dressing their venison, or for the other purposes of life, they 
could evidently be in no want. The rest of their necessaries 
would be easily procured, partly by taking what they had 
occasion for from the wealthy passenger who traversed or 
approached their territories, and partly by commerce with the 
neighbouring villages or great towns. 

It may be readily imagined that such a life, during a great 
part of the year, at least, and while it continued free from the 
alarms or apprehensions to which our foresters, one would 
suppose, must have been too frequently subjected, might be 
sufficiently pleasant and desirable, and even deserve the com- 
pliment which is paid to it by Shakspeare, in his comedy, 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 93 

As you like it, (act 1, scene 1), where, on Oliver's asking, 
" Where will the old duke live V* Charles answers, " They 
say he is already in the forest of Arden, and a many merry 
men with him ; and there they live like the old Robin Hood 
of England • * * * and fleet the time carelessly as they 
did in the golden world." But, on the other hand, it will be 
at once difficult and painful to conceive, 

When they did hear 
The rain and wind heat dark December, how, 
In that their pinching cave, they could discourse 
The freezing hours away ! 

Their mode of life, in short, and domestic economy, of which 
no authentic particulars have been traditionally preserved, are 
more easily to be guessed at than described. 

That our hero and his companions, while they lived in the 
woods, had recourse to robbery for their better support is 
neither to be concealed nor to be denied. Testimonies to this 
purpose, indeed would be equally endless and unnecessary. 
Fordun, in the fourteenth century, calls him " ille famossisi- 
mus siccarius ;" that most celebrated robber ; and Major 
terms him and Little John, " famatissimi latrones" But it 
is to he remembered, according to the confession of the latter 
historian, that in these exertions of power he took away the 
goods of rich men only ; never killing any person, unless he 
was attacked or resisted ; that he would not suffer a woman 
to be maltreated ; nor ever took anything from the poor, but 
charitably fed them with the wealth he drew from the abbots. 
" I disapprove," says he, " of the rapine of the man ; but he 
was the most humane and the prince of all robbers." In 
allusion, no doubt, to this irregular and predatory course of 
life, he has had the honor to being compared to the illustrious 
Wallace, the champion and deliverer of his country ; and that, 
it is not a little remarkable, in the latter' s own time. 

Our hero, indeed, seems to have held bishops, abbots, 
priests, and monks, in a word, all the clergy, regular or secular, 
in decided aversion. 

"These byshoppes and thyse archebyshoppes, 
Ye shall them bete and bynde," 

was an injunction carefully impressed upon his followers : 



94 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

and, in this part of his conduct, perhaps, he may find ample 
justification in the accounts of the pride, avarice, uncharita- 
bleness, and hypocrisy of a portion of the clergy of that day, 
who were supported and pampered in luxury, at the expense 
of those whom the craft of the Romish priesthood retained 
in superstitious ignorance and irrational servility. The abbot 
of St. Mary's, in York, from some unknown cause, appears to 
have been distinguished by particular animosity ; and the 
sheriff of Nottinghamshire, who may have been too active 
and officious in his endeavours to apprehend him, was the un- 
remitted object of his vengeance. 

Notwithstanding, however, the aversion in which he appears 
to have held the clergy of every denomination, he was a man 
of exemplary piety, according to the notions of that age, and 
retained a domestic chaplain (friar Tuck, no doubt,) for the 
diurnal celebration of the divine mysteries. This we learn 
from an anecdote preserved by Fordun, as an instance of those 
actions which the historian allows to deserve commendation. 
One day as he heard mass, which he was most devoutly ac- 
customed to do, (nor would he, in whatever necessity, suffer 
the office to be interrupted), he was espied by a certain sheriff 
and officers belonging to the king, who had frequently before 
molested him in that most secret recess of the wood where he 
was at mass. Some of his people, who perceived what was 
going forward, advised him to fly with all speed, which, out 
of reverence to the sacrament which he was then most de- 
voutly worshipping, he absolutely refused to do. But the 
rest of his men having fled for fear of death, Robin, con- 
fiding solely in Him whom he reverently worshipped, with a 
very few who by chance were present, set upon his enemies, 
whom he easily vanquished ; and, being enriched with their 
spoils and ransom, he always held the ministers of the church 
and masses in greater veneration ever after, mindful of what 
is vulgarly said — 

Him God does surely hear 
"Who oft to th' mass gives ear. 

Having for a long series of years maintained a sort of inde- 
pendent sovereignity, and set kings, judges, and magistrates at 
defiance, a proclamation was published, offering a considerable 
reward for bringing him in, either dead or alive ; which, how- 



A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 95 

ever, seems to have been productive of no greater success than 
former attempts for that purpose, At length, the infirmities of 
old age increasing upon him, and desirous to be relieved in a 
fit of sickness by being let blood, he applied for that purpose 
to the prioress of Kirkley's nunnery, in Yorkshire, his rela- 
tion, (women, and particularly religious women, being in those 
times somewhat better skilled in surgery than the sex is at 
present), by whom he was treacherously suffered to bleed to 
death. This event happened on the 18th of November, 1247, 
being the 31st year of King Henry III, and (if the date as- 
signed to his birth be correct,) about the 87th of his age. 
He was interred under some trees, at a short distance from 
the house, a stone being placed over his grave, with an in- 
scription to his memory. 

Such was the end of Robin Hood : a man who, in a bar- 
barous age, and under a complicated tyranny, displayed a 
spirit of freedom and independence, which has endeared him 
to the common people, whose cause he maintained, (for oppo- 
sition to tyranny is the cause of the people) ; and which, in 
spite of the malicious endeavours of pitiful monks, by whom 
history was consecrated to the crimes and follies of titled 
ruffians and sainted idiots, to suppress all record of his patri- 
otic exertions and virtuous acts, will render his name immortal. 

"Dum juga montis aper-fluvios dum piscis amabit, 
Dumque tnymo pascentur apes, dum rore cicadse, 
Semper honos, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt." 

With respect to his personal character ; it is sufficiently 
evident that he was active,, brave, prudent, patient ; possessed 
of uncommon bodily strength, and considerable military skill ; 
just, generous, benevolent, faithful, and beloved or revered by his 
followers or adherents for his excellent and amiable qualities. 
Fordun, a priest, extols his piety ; and piety, hy a priest, is 
regarded as the perfection of virtue. Major (as we have seen) 
pronounces him the most humane and the prince of all robbers ; 
and Camden, whose testimony is of some weight, calls him 
" prcedonem mitissimum" the gentlest of thieves. 

As proofs of his universal and singular popularity, his story 
and exploits have been made the subject as well of various 
dramatic exhibitions as innumerable poems, rhymes, songs and 
ballads. He has given rise to divers proverbs ; and to swear 



96 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

by him, or some of his companions, appears to have been a 
usual practice. He may be regarded as the patron of archery; 
and, though not actually canonized, ( a situation to which the 
miracles wrought in his favour, as well in his lifetime as after 
his death, and the supernatural powers he is, in some parts, 
supposed to have possessed, give him an indisputable claim), 
he obtained the principal distinction of sainthood, in having a 
festival allotted to him, and solemn games instituted in honour 
of his memory, which were celebrated till the latter end of the 
sixteenth century ; not by the populace only, but by kings or 
princes and grave magistrates, and that as well in Scotland as 
in England ; being considered, in the former country, of the 
highest political importance, and as essential to the civil and 
religious liberties of the people ; the efforts of the government 
to suppress them frequently producing tumult and insurrection. 
His bow, and one of his arrows, his chair, cap, and slipper, 
were preserved with great care till within the last century ; 
and not only places which afforded him security or amusement, 
but even the well at which he quenched his thirst, still retain 
his name : a name which, in the middle of the present century, 
was conferred as an honourable distinction upon the prime 
minister to the king of Madagascar. 

After his death his company w r as dispersed. History is 
silent in particulars : all that we can, therefore, learn is, that 
the honour of Little John's death and grave is contended for 
by rival nations ; that the place of his (real or reputed) burial 
was long " celebrous for the yielding of excellent whet- 
stones ;" and that some of his descendants, of the name of 
Nailor, which he himself bore, and they from him, were in 
being so late as the seventeenth century. 



END OF NOTE TO LETTER IV. 



JL VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 97 



LIST OF PLANTS 

GROWING IN AND ABOUT MANSFIELD. 



Agrostemma githago Corn Cockle 

Achillea, millefolium Yarrow 

Alchemilfa vulgaris Ladies' Mantle 

Anagallis tenella Bog Pimpernel 

Anagallis arvensis Scarlet Pimpernel 

Anemone nemorosa Wild Anemone or Wind Flower 

Ballota nigra Black H orehound 

Bidens tripartita Bur-Mary gold 

Blechnum boreale Hard Fern 

Botrychium lunaria Moon wort 

Campanula hybrida Corn Bell flower 

Campanula rotundifolia Common Bell flower 

Call una vulgaris Common Lin g 

Conyza squarrosa Plowman's Spikenard 

Cerasfium vulgatum Mouse-ear Chick weed 

Chelidonium majus Greater Celandine 

Cuscuta Europcea Greater Dodder 

Digitalis purpurea Foxglove 

Drosera rotundifolia Round-leaved Sundew 

Epilobium hirsutum Willowherb 

Erodium Cicutarium Hemlock Storksbill 

Erodium maritimum Sea Storksbill 

Erythrcea centaurium Common Centory 

Euphrasia officinalis Eyebright 

Erica cm erea Common Heath 

Erica tetralix Cross-leaved Heath 

Eriophorum angustifolium Cott on G rass 

Echium vulgar e Viper's Buglosa 

Fumaria officinalis Fumitory 

Galium crucial um Crosswort 

Galium saxatilis , Heath Bedstraw 

Galium luteum , Ladies' Bedstraw 



98 A VISIT TO SHERWOOD FOREST. 

Genista scoparius Common Broom 

Gentiana campestris Field Gentian 

Geum urbanum Avens or Herb Bennet 

Galeopsis vittosa Downy Hemp Nettle 

Galeopsis tetrahit Common Hemp Nettle 

Hydrocolyle vulgaris Marsh. Penny 

Hypericum perforatum St. John's Wort 

Hypericum pidchrum Upright St. John's Wort 

Jasione montana Sheep's-bit 

Linaria vulgaris Common Toad Flax 

Linaria minor Least Toad Flax 

Lithospermum officinalis Common Gromwell 

Lotus corniculatus Common Birdsfoot Trefoil 

Lychnis dioica Campion 

Lycopodium Clavatum Club Moss 

Malva rotundifolia Common Mallow 

Malva moschata r Musk Mallow 

Melampyrum pratense Common Yellow Cow Wheat 

Mercurialis perennis Dog's Mercury 

Menyanthes trifoliata Bog Bean 

Myosostis palustris Forget me not 

Ornithopus purpusillus Haresfoot Trefoil 

Papaver Rhceas .Red Poppy 

Polygala vulgaris Milk Wort 

Panassia palustris Grass of Parnassus 

Pedicularis palustris Lousewort 

Polygonum persicaria Spotted Persicaria 

Quercus Robur English Oak 

Reseda luteola Yellow Dyer's Weed 

Scabiosa arvensis Field Scabious 

Saponaria officinalis Soap Wort 

Sculeltaria galericulata Skullcap 

Spergula arvensis Spuney 

Sherardia arvensis , Spurwort 

Spiraa ulmaria Meadow Sweet 

Stellaria graminea Lesser Stitchwort 

Teesdalia nudicaulis Teesdalia 

Thymus acinos , Basil Thyme 

Tormentilla reptans Creeping Tormentilla 

TJlex nanus Dwarf Furze 

TJlex Europceus Common Gorse 

Vaccinium myriillus Bilberry 

Vaccinium Vitis Idcea Cowberry 

Verbascum Thapsus Common Mullien 

Verbascum nigrum Black Mullien 

Veronica officinalis Common Speedwell 



INDEX. 



PAGE 

Mansfield 1 

BerryHill 12 

Newstead Abbey 24 

Annesley Hall 32 

Linby 34 

Hucknall Torkard 35 

Hardwick Hall 38 

Ault-Hucknall 52 

Bolsover Castle 53 

Scarcliffe 58 

Mansfield Woodhouse . * 59 

Water Meadows 62 

Clipstone 63 

Clipstone Lodge 65 

Rufford Abbey .. 69 

ThoresbyHall 71 

Budby .. .. .. 74 

Clumber Hall 75 

Welbeck Abbey 80 

Celebrated Oaks : — 

At Birkland . . . . 67 

At Welbeck 86 

Parliament Oak 68 

Life of Robin Hood 90 

Indigenous Plants 97 

Table of Distances from Mansfield 100 



100 



ADVEKTISEMENTS. 




11 L, 

POST HORSES, OMNIBUSES, &c. 



K. WHITE, PROPRIETOR. 



4 mm 



& 



DISTANCES FROM MANSFIELD. 


Clumber 


12 Miles 


Thoresby 


10 ditto 


Rufford 


10 ditto 


Newstead Abbey 

Welbeck 


6 ditto 

10 ditto 


Hard wick 


8 ditto 


Bolsover 


9 ditto 


Nottingbam . . 

Southwell 


14 ditto 

12 aitto 


Chesterfield 


, . 12 ditto 


All Veton 


9 ditto 


Worksop 


12 ditto 


Oilerton .. .... • 


10 ditto 








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